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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/approachingcrisiOOdavi 










Price 50 Cents. 



THE 



APPROACHING CRISIS: 



BEING 



A BEVIEW 



DR. BUSHNELL'S RECENT LECTURES 



ON 



gujwrnaturaltem* 



BY ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, 

AUTHOR OF "NATURE'S DIVINE REVELATIONS," "GREAT HARMONIA," ETC., ETC. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

FOR SALE BY J. S. REDFIELD, AND FOWLERS AND WELLS. 
B. B. MUSSEY & CO., BOSTON ; A. ROSE, HARTFORD ; W. B. 
ZIEBER, PHILADELPHIA ; BURGESS & TAYLOR, BAL- 
TIMORE ; J. C. MORGAN, NEW ORLEANS ; F. BLY, 
CINCINNATI ; D. M. DKWEY, ROCHESTER. 

1852. 






ih 



(jlAAj 



U-v_ 



( 




^La^^Tmtv 



NEW AND POPULAR BOOKS, 

PUBLISHED BY 

J. S. KEDFIELD, CLINTON HALL, NEW YOEK. 



I. KEICHENBACH'S DYNAMICS OF MAGNETISM.— 

" Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, Elec- 
tricity, Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemism, in their Relations to 
Vital Force : By Baron Charles Von Reichenbach. With the Addition 
of a Preface and Critical Notes, by John Ashburner, M. D." With all 
the Plates. In one Volume, 12mo., 456 pp. Price, $1 25. 
" This book is a valuable addition to scientific knowledge upon subjects that 
have hitherto been involved in obscurity and mysticism. Charlatans have so 
long availed themselves of a slight knowledge of the phenomena of magnetism 
for mercenary purposes, that discredit has been thrown upon the whole subject, 
and men of science have been deterred from pursuing, or at least from publish- 
ing, their researches. The work before us gives the result of a vast number of 
experiments, conducted with great philosophical acumen, testing the truth both 
of modern theories and ancient superstitions. Phenomena attributed in past 
ages to a supernatural agency, and by the superficial skepticism of later times 
dismissed as mere impostures, are in many instances traced with great clear- 
ness to natural and explicable causes. It requires, and is eminently worthy of, 
an attentive perusal." — City Item. 

II. "THE CELESTIAL TELEGEAPH; or, Secrets of the 

World to Come, revealed through Magnetism ; wherein the Existence, the 
Form, and the Occupations of the Soul, after its Separation from the Body, 
are proved by Many Years' Experiments, by the Means of eight Ecstatic 
Somnambulists, who had eighty Perceptions of thirty-six Deceased Per- 
sons of various Conditions. A Description of them, their Conversation, 
etc., with Proofs of their Existence in the Spiritual World." By L. Alph. 
Cahagnet. In qne Volume, 12mo., 410 pp. Price, $1 25. 
H M. Cahagnet has certainly placed the human race under a vast debt of obli- 
gation to himself, by the vast amount of information vouchsafed respecting our 
hereafter. What we have read in this volume has exceedingly interested us in 
many ways and for many reasons— chiefly, perhaps, because we have perused 
it as we would any other able work of fiction. As a work of imagination, it is 
almost incomparable. Some of the revelations are as marvellous and interesting 
as those, or that, of Poe's M. Valdemar. We commend this work to lovers of 
the wild and incredible in romance." — Ontario Repository. 

III. STILLING'S PNEUMATOLOGY.— " Theory of Pneuma- 

tology ; in Reply to the Question, What ought to be believed or disbelieved 

concerning Presentiments, Visions, and Apparitions, according to Nature, 

Reason, and Scripture. By Doct. Johann Heinrich Jung- Stilling. 

Translated from the German, with copious Notes, by Samuel Jackson. 

Edited by Rev. George Bush." In one Vol., 12mo., 300 pp. Price $1: 

" We have, in the course of the discussion, a philosophical account of the 

magnetic influence, as showing the influence of mind upon mind, as well as of 

various other analogous subjects. The array of facts brought forward by the 

author is curious, and the work will interest any one who is engaged in studying j 

the different phases of the human mind." — State Register. 



I 
7 



r 



THE 



APPROACHING CRISIS: 



A REVIEW 



OF 



DR. BUSHOLL'S RECENT LECTURES 



ON 



BY ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, 

« AUTHOR OP " NATURE'S DIVINE REVELATIONS," " GREAT HARMONIA," ETC., ETC 




•V^'^^X 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

1852. • ■ 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, 

By ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 

for the Southern District of New York. 






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* V 






PREFACE. 



The Great Question of this Age, which is destined to convulse and divide 
Protestantism, and around which all other religious controversies must necessarily 
revolve, is exegetically foreshadowed in this Review ; which is composed of Six 
Discourses, delivered by the Author before the Harmonial Brotherhood of this 
City. Religious truths present themselves naturally to a good mind ; and by such 
a mind they will be most accurately comprehended. Men of the greatest talent 
and learning frequently reason themselves into the profoundest errors, by com- 
mencing with the confusing impression that Truth is complex and supernatural. 
He who would apprehend the simplicity of Truth and worship at her shrine, must 
be ready at all times to divest his mind of prejudices and of preconceived opinions, 
whenever Truth reveals their falseness. The Author's method will be found to 
be plain, because such is truly the seal of reason. 

The views presented concerning the " Word," it may be remarked, are mainly 
connected with the external peculiarities thereof 5 as the occasion does not now 
demand a deeper criticism. The Author is acquainted with a more spiritual Logos, 
within the original symbolical expression, (& Xo/or rov Geo?, " the word of God," 
to be found, with identical meanings, in the Zenda Vesta, in the Vedas, also in the 
Bible,) which lies quite untouched in the present work. Indeed, the spiritual 
" Word" here alluded to, as originally signified by John, is not (0 'Xoyos- and \6yoi) 
Divine " Truth" and " Reason" dependent upon the paper and ink habiliments 
of the Old and New Testaments 5 but upon the intellectual progress and religious 
development of the human soul — a growth of parte into a completeness. The 
organizing, unfolding, and energizing Spirit of God (which is the true transla- 
tion of John's meaning) will surely be more manifested, or inworlded, in a New 
Dispensation than in any conceivable number of sacred canons. Supernaturalism 
adheres to the form ; Rationalism seeks the spirit. 

Among all the Author's recent impressions, there stands no one question so 
important and conspicuous as that set forth in the succeeding pages. The most 
external and superficial aspect is first presented 5 but deeper investigations are 
certain to follow. There is much to illuminate our present existence, and far 
more to joyfully anticipate. 

A. J. D. 

Hartford, Feb. 25, 1852. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introductory Remarxs. Religious reformation the greatest question of 
the age. A letter. Object of this work. . 5 

First Review. Truth and custom. Mental equilibriums. The modern 
Martin Luther. The grounds of supernaturalism. The defective text. The 
sacred canons. The Greek philosophers. The foundation of Christianity. 
Combe's gospel on the Constitution of Man. . . . . . .13 

Second Review. Conflict between the affections and understanding. 
The new conservatism exhibited. The system of Nature versus the system 
of God. Points of agreement. The wonders and extent of nature. A faith 
above reason. Human magnetism. The Mormons. Shelley. The Vestiges 
of Creation. Confusion in nature. The question of free agency. The 
cramping influence of a false theology. ....... 33 

Third Review. Retrogression. The supernatural realm. A war of 
words. Symptoms of reason. Simplicity of rationalism. Things and Powers. 
The origin of evil. Insurmountable objections. The mysterious knockings 
undignified. Mental expansion necessary. A spiritual United States. Pul- 
pit exaggerations. The question of evil biblically considered. A conversation 
between God and Adam. The true origin of evil. Knowledge based upon 
experience. Moralism and Christianity. The social causes of evil. Ration- 
alism and supernaturalism illustrated. ....... 58 

Fourth Review. The theologic fabric. Liberties with an infallible Word. 
The paradoxical compound. Points of agreement with Swedenborg. The 
devil improved. Things and Powers. Evidences of the existence of sin. 
No Lav/ of Right established. Propositions analyzed. The doctrine of 
blaming. Governments — their object. The false issues of theology. . .132 

Fifth Review. Reconciliation impossible. The end of controversy. 
The effort to prove the text. Mankind vilified. Necessity for the medicine 
of Redemption. Patent remedies and Dr. Bushnell's conclusions. No uni- 
versally recognized standard of Right and Wrong. Nature as it is. . .157 

The Dying Dogmas. A prophecy. Freedom of the will. The unrelia- 
bility of consciousness. The doctrine of moral freedom considered. The 
spirit and the father. The case of Dr. Parkman and Professor Webster. . 183 

Conclusion. Causes of the coming crisis. A struggle between Catholics 
and Protestants. The triumph of Reason. The result . . . . . 214 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



Faithful to my spiritual impressions, I watch, with con- 
stantly deepening interest, all the important and momentous 
changes of this eventful Era. 

All superior intelligences regard the origination and uni- 
versal application of the Art of Printing, as a power of 
immense and never-ending value. By it, the world is fast 
becoming illuminated with the scintillations of wisdom, and 
with the principles of a spiritual republicanism. By it, the 
early Alteration in the Church became widely diffused — an 
alteration, which, owing principally to educational convic- 
tions, the Catholic Church stigmatizes as the great "Heresy." 
But all Protestants know, from the various sources of civil 
and religious experience derived therefrom, that the altera- 
tion alluded to was a decided improvement or " Reforma- 
tion" in ail matters pertaining to Christianity. Printing 
first enlightened the people concerning the irreligion and 
atrocious ceremonies practiced by the early Church. And 
the world has at last come to see that religious reformation 
is both possible and beneficial. This conviction has attained 
a high place in nearly all well-educated and healthy minds. 
Changes and consequent improvements in almost every 
department of human interests, are confidently expected by 
those who live in the Nineteenth Century. While those who 
are confessedly mortgaged to the dogmatic organization of 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introductory Remarks. Religious reformation the greatest question of 
the age. A letter. Object of this work 5 

First Review. Truth and custom. Mental equilibriums. The modern 
Martin Luther. Tire grounds of supernaturalism. The defective text. The 
sacred canons. The Greek philosophers. The foundation of Christianity. 
Combe's gospel on the Constitution of Man. .13 

Second Review. Conflict between the affections and understanding. 
The new conservatism exhibited. The system of Nature versus the system 
of God. Points of agreement. The wonders and extent of nature. A faith 
above reason. Human magnetism. The Mormons. Shelley. The Vestiges 
of Creation. Confusion in nature. The question of free agency. The 
cramping influence of a false theology. ....... 33 

Third Review. Retrogression. The supernatural realm. A war of 
words. Symptoms of reason. Simplicity of rationalism. Things and Powers. 
The origin of evil. Insurmountable objections. The mysterious knockings 
undignified. Mental expansion necessary. A spiritual United States. Pul- 
pit exaggerations. The question of evil biblically considered. A conversation 
between God and Adam. The true origin of evil. Knowledge based upon 
experience. Moralism and Christianity. The social causes of evil. Ration- 
alism and supernaturalism illustrated. ....... 58 

Fourth Review. The theologic fabric. Liberties with an infallible Word. 
The paradoxical compound. Points of agreement with Swedenborg. The 
devil improved. Things and Powers. Evidences of the existence of sin. 
No Lav/ of Right established. Propositions analyzed. The doctrine of 
blaming. Governments — their object. The false issues of theology. . .132 

Fifth Review. Reconciliation impossible. The end of controversy. 
The effort to prove the text. Mankind vilified. Necessity for the medicine 
of Redemption. Patent remedies and Dr. Bushnell's conclusions. No uni- 
versally recognized standard of Right and Wrong. Nature as it is. . .157 

The Dying Dogmas. A prophecy. Freedom of the will. The unrelia- 
bility of consciousness. The doctrine of moral freedom considered. The 
spirit and the father. The case of Dr. Parkman and Professor Webster. . 183 

Conclusion. Causes of the coming crisis. A struggle between Catholics 
and Protestants. The triumph of Reason. The result . . . . 214 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



Faithful to my spiritual impressions, I watch, with con- 
stantly deepening interest, all the important and momentous 
changes of this eventful Era. 

All superior intelligences regard the origination and uni- 
versal application of the Art of Printing, as a power of 
immense and never-ending value. By it, the world is fast 
becoming illuminated with the scintillations of wisdom, and 
with the principles of a spiritual republicanism. By it, the 
early Alteration in the Church became widely diffused — an 
alteration, which, owing principally to educational convic- 
tions, the Catholic Church stigmatizes as the great "Heresy." 
But all Protestants know, from the various sources of civil 
and religious experience derived therefrom, that the altera- 
tion alluded to was a decided improvement or " Reforma- 
tion" in all matters pertaining to Christianity. Printing 
first enlightened the people concerning the irreligion and 
atrocious ceremonies practiced by the early Church. And 
the world has at last come to see that religious reformation 
is both possible and beneficial. This conviction has attained 
a high place in nearly all well-educated and healthy minds. 
Changes and consequent improvements in almost every 
department of human interests, are confidently expected by 
those who live in the Nineteenth Century. While those who 
are confessedly mortgaged to the dogmatic organization of 



6 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Old Opinions, can not bring their minds to contemplate 
Reformations in any thing as possible without being accom- 
panied by some overwhelming disaster either in the church 
or state. The enlightened and clear-seeing intellects, however, 
can read the events of this epoch, — recognizing plainly, in the 
long, well-defined shadows which approaching changes cast 
before them, the peculiar crisis or interregnum that is certain 
to precede the establishment of a higher form of ecclesiasticism 
and a nobler type of republicanism and religious freedom. 

Religious reformation is demonstrated to be both practi- 
cal and beneficial to mankind. Deeply impressed with this 
conviction, and believing also that the highest point of im- 
provement, in social arrangements and religious institutions 
and faith, has not yet been reached by man, I obey my 
inflowing impressions, and strive to help move forward the 
ponderous Car of human progression. Accordingly, hearing 
that Horace Bushnell, D. D., of the City of Hartford, 
had in contemplation the delivery of a course of lectures, 
bearing, as I supposed, on the great general question of 
religious Reformation, I made it a point, by interior direc- 
tion, to be present on all the occasions, and listen to his 
disclosures. 

Immediately after the pronunciation of his introductory 
discourse, I penned and addressed the following letter 
through the Hartford Times ; the import of which will ap- 
pear on perusal : 



A LETTER TO REV. DR. BUSHNELL. 

A SUGGESTION. 

Hartford, Dec. 15, 1851. 

Dear Sir, — The simple announcement that you had in 
contemplation the formation and deliverance of a course of 
lectures "On the Naturalistic Theories of Religion as op- 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7 

posed to Supernatural Revelation," gave me much pleasure. 
Nor did that pleasure experience any diminution on hearing 
the first lecture of the proposed course, delivered by you last 
evening. Indeed, I can scarcely express the gratification 
excited in my mind by the clearness of your definitions, the 
broadness of your premises, the fairness of your statements, 
and by the goodness of your intentions, manifested in the 
introductory discourse to which I now refer. Your position 
in the question is, it seems to me, entirely unlike any other 
ever assumed by the clergy of Christendom. And your 
appreciation of the magnitude and importance of the sub- 
ject — nay, its intrinsic momentousness to the welfare of 
mankind — is also vastly different and far more just, it seems 
to me, than I have ever before discovered in any other 
member of your exalted profession. That the clergy of this 
city have manifested wisdom in the selection (by suggestion 
and compliment) of yourself as the person most calculated to 
approach and treat this great question with ability and can- 
dor, is very evident ; and that the enlightened portion of this 
community will be attracted, gratified, and instructed by the 
manner and method you design to adopt, there can be no 
doubt. You approach the subject, define your position, and 
declare your intentions and arguments in a manner consid- 
erably unlike the method pursued by most clergymen, viz., 
with a firm reliance upon your own reason or judgment, with 
with which you design to address the corresponding faculty 
in the mind of the hearer. This, as you must be aware, is 
quite a new method to adopt in the analysis and examination 
of a Bible question, so undoubtedly important. Although you 
seemed not to acknowledge the " Sovereignty of Reason," in 
matters pertaining to a supernaturalistic revelation and faith ; 
yet you very evidently rely upon that faculty (reason) to per- 
form its appropriate functions in order to convince your aud- 
ience of the soundness and legitimacy of your conclusions. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



In addressing you thus publicly, I aim not at discussion or 
controversy ; but simply to make a suggestion to you, and also 
to the Hartford community, that this course of lectures be 
delivered by you in a place where all parties interested can 
have an opportunity, should they desire it, to analyze and 
examine before the same audience the various positions you 
may assume in the discussion. As the case now stands, the 
matter at issue is not properly apprehended by half the num- 
ber of minds that may listen to your discourses. The people 
do not so clearly realize that very many thousands are more 
or less involved in the insinuating infidelity of this age ; in- 
deed, I was myself surprised at the statistical information 
which you imparted on this head. Hence, to most minds, 
the question has not yet attained that imposing magnitude 
which, in your own opinion, and in fact, it undoubtedly pos- 
sesses. I concur entirely with you, and with the clergy of 
Hartford, that the greatest question of this day is the one you 
have resolved to answer, viz. : Whether Rationalism or Su- 
pernaturalism shall be triumphant ? You propose, as I ap- 
prehend you, to reconcile the two forms of faith, and show 
that Miracles, in the theological definition of the term, are 
not inconsistent with the operations of unchangeable law 
and system. 

Now I think, Reverend Sir, that you will most willingly ac- 
cede to the foregoing proposition ; inasmuch as you affirmed, 
toward the termination of your discourse last evening, that in 
announcing the course of lectures, you had no design to draw 
people to the North Church, or to imply that you undertook 
the task from any consciousness of personal qualification. 
But you very nobly and ingenuously took upon yourself this 
work of reconciliation from a love of truth, or from an un- 
mixed sense of the magnitude and vital importance of the 
question to the generality of mankind. I perfectly harmonize 
in the latter conviction ; and, therefore, suggest the free 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 9 

analyzation and discussion of the question proposed in your 
lectures. Will not the citizens of Hartford adopt some method 
which will secure to all parties an opportunity of free speech ? 
Will they not obtain some large and commodious hall ; and 
would you not, Sir, in such case, repeal the introductory 
lecture of last evening ; because you therein lay the founda- 
tion broad and satisfactory, and in a manner so frank and 
truthful, that I would recommend its frequent repetition. 1 
do not know that any persons would avail themselves of the 
liberty of speech proposed, and say any thing by way of criti- 
cism on the subjects involved in your discourses. I have at 
present no design to do so myself; but I simply ask, for the 
parties interested, that the same audience may hear the Pro 
and Con of the greatest question of this age. I know no 
other way to obtain a rational verdict. 

Very respectfully, A. J. Davis. 

The breadth and comprehensiveness of the greatest ques- 
tion of this age, and the bold, independent statement thereof 
by Dr. Bushnell in his introductory lecture, sent a thrill of 
pleasure through many truth-seeking and liberty-loving minds. 
And necessarily, the result of the foregoing letter was antici- 
pated with no little interest. But no response was received. 
At the time the letter was penned, I had received no im- 
pression to write any discussionary criticism of the Lecturer's 
propositions. It was only after it became evident that no 
heed would be given to the above suggestion, that the interior 
direction came to me to proceed with a plain, unadorned 
examination of Dr. B 's principal positions. 

Many hundreds have listened with considerable interest, 
but with more anxiety, to the affirmative treatment of this 
high theme ; whilst only a small portion of that number heard 
the analyzation s, of the main arguments on that side, which 
constitute the contents of this work. Rationalism versus 



10 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Supernaturalism. This is the great religious question of the 
age. And considering the position of the church, and the 
condition of faith among the people respecting it, the subject 

has been approached and treated by Dr. B . in a manner 

as fair and comprehensive as could be reasonably anticipated 
from that source. Yet he will perceive, it is believed, that a 
deeper and more candid examination must be instituted be- 
fore those who have become accustomed to independent 
thinking, can, with a confiding mind, look to the pulpit for 
sound argument and practical reform. 

The first lecture of his course was delivered by him on the 
14th; the second, on the 21st of December, 1851 ; the third, 
on the 4th ; the fourth, on the 18th ; and the fifth, on the 25th 
of January, 1852. The course is supposed not yet com- 
pleted. But the lectures, thus far, do not solve the most 
essential problems, which lie at the basis of what is termed, 
" Infidelity" ; and, hence, it is deemed wisdom briefly to 
analyze the positions assumed, and state the various diffi- 
culties which threaten to prevent the solution undertaken. 

The author attended the delivery of the lectures ; but he 
has had no external access to the MSS. This Review is, 
therefore, wholly the result of an interior effort on the part 
of the author ; and yet it is written in a style adapted to the 
popular understanding, being free from elaborate and tedious 
disquisitions. 

Since the Norman conquest, there have been evident ad- 
vancements made in every thing, except, perhaps, in super- 
naturalistic revelations. The seal of infallibility must be 
broken away, before a new light and beauty can enliven and 
embellish the mystical disclosures of any seer, prophet, or 
evangelist ; whose soul may be able to reflect the symbols of 
many truths. Owing to the dogmatism of infallibility, the 
Bible is taught now-a-days as it was nearly four centuries 
ago. And although very many minds have escaped from the 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 11 

old faiths and creeds, and left the priests to their idols ; yet 
the strength of popular or external sentiments is such, that 
the seceders are usually constrained to remain very quiet ; 
and thus they pass in society for very good " lukewarm" 
Christians, unless, indeed, they have the courage to stem the 
central current, and establish a new form of worship. If so, 
they are likely very soon to become respectable, and antag- 
onistic in their turn to those who may prefer a still greater 
latitude in their theological opinions. 

It is confidently hoped that the talented mind, whose recent 
labors have suggested the succeeding criticisms, will find 
therein some points — or intended-to-be-points — of argument 
on his part, which may require much re-consideration, in 
order to subserve the objects for which his lectures were 
avowedly designed — viz. : — to remove doubt and skepticism 
from the rising generation, and give a new philosophic light to 
the rationalistic Christian. He may rest perfectly assured 
that no captious or merely controversial spirit has dictated 
this review. On the contrary, the present work is expressly 
and conscientiously designed to convince him, and the inves- 
tigating world besides, that Spiritual Rationalistic positions 
are as invulnerable and satisfying as his doctrines are un- 
sound and insufficient. 



FIRST REVIEW. 



Strictly speaking, there are, and always have been, in this 
rudimental and undeveloped world, two classes of minds. 
One class, being improperly situated in society, and mentally 
trammeled and undeveloped, always love and reverence Cus- 
tom more than Truth. The other class, being endowed with 
superior powers of mind, combined with social advantages 
and high conceptions of Justice, always find it easy to rever- 
ence Truth independent of Custom, — nay, independent of the 
horrors of exilement or the keener terrors of the Vatican. 
The former desire custom to become Truth ; the latter, Truth 
to become custom. The votaries of custom are invariably 
and universally the mightiest in numbers, and most always 
in power. Hence this party, being in the majority, univer- 
sally rule the other portion of mankind ; and determine, with 
an iron scepter, what the more truth-loving and advanced 
party shall do and believe. 

The custom-serving mind is certain to oppose all attempts 
on the part of a truth-loving mind to assert its independence 
in matters of faith. Every effort,— no matter how quiet and 
wise it may be, — to break away from the multifarious re- 
straints, which have held the church and the world in dark- 
ness and degradation for long oenturies, are, by the vast ma- 
jority, invariably condemned, precisely as the Pope censured 
Galileo, — as "absurd in itself, false in philosophy, and for- 
mally heretical, because declared and denned as contrary to 
Sacred Scripture !" 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 13 

The Roman church is not the only earthly example of reli- 
gious apprehensiveness and sectarian intolerance. Prot- 
estants love to draw comparisons between the Roman and 
the English church — showing, by means of contrast, the 
horrid deformity and intolerance of the one by holding up, 
before the people, the superior nature, organization, and lib- 
erties of the other. Now to this Protestant course I make 
no objection ; but, what I mean to teach is — that the two 
classes of minds alluded to are not necessarily churchmen ; 
they are substantially the citizens of the world — a result, 
when philosophically considered, of the -imperfections or 
rather gradations, consequent upon a universal system of pro- 
gressive development in minds and morals. There must be 
low and high — intolerance and liberty — men and angels, sta- 
tioned along the rectilinear, but spirally ascending, line of spirit- 
ual and material creations. The car of progress will roll speed- 
ily, determinedly onward ; and you, my friends, may feel the 
utmost security in taking seats therein, because conservatism 
and intolerance are always ready, with their mighty strength, 
to press the " break upon the wheels," and prevent the sad, 
social and religious disasters which might otherwise occur. 
This pushing and pulling, this progression and retrogression, 
this fearlessness and cautiousness, are manifestly all incor- 
porated with, and developed by, the universal providence 
of the Living God. In mechanism it is a well-known fact, 
that all motion is created and maintained by what has been 
termed a constant destruction of equilibriums. But unless 
these equilibriums are properly adjusted, the motion — pro- 
ceeding from their successive and alternate disturbance — is 
defective and incapable of a useful application. The motion 
is good and useful only when the equilibriums are harmo- 
niously arranged and disturbed. So also, the human race : 
when agitated by the improper arrangement of the progress- 
ive and conservative characteristics of mind, it is necessarily 



14 THE APPROACHING C P. ISIS. 

very discordant and miserable. But when, like the wise and 
skillful mechanic, the enlightened members of humanity shall 
give a truer form and better direction to these mental equilib- 
riums, the whole race will experience more happiness and 
easier progression. All this is mathematically certain. Now, 
therefore, as you will perceive, conservatism and even in- 
tolerance (in a certain sense) are not to be dogmatically con- 
demned, nor yet progression or mental independence; but 
only their wrong development and misapplication. This is 
the matter to study and to determine. 

The application of the foregoing w T ill be seen when I come 
to tell you, that I am now impressed to review Dr. Bushnell ; 
not on the ground or presumption that his conservatism is 
wrong in itself, but that it is exceedingly at fault in its 
present mode of manifestation. I speak now as mankind's 
advocate. In conducting this review, let it be remembered, 
I am not contending with the local positions, private opinions, 
and confidential statements of an individual ; but with an 
individual definition of the various positions, doctrines, and 
principal conclusions, w r hich, unquestionably, are entertained 
and inculcated in different forms by the most enlightened 
members of the Christian sects. 

That Dr. Bushnell is, in several respects, the Martin 
Luther of to-day, — in the church of which he is a recognized 
orthodox member,- — is evident from the resemblance he theo- 
logically presents to that early reformer. Therefore, not as 
Dr. Bushnell, be it remembered, but as the leader and embodi- 
ment of a new and more liberal form of conservatism, do I 
approach the great question which he defined and ampli- 
fied in his recent lecture. 

In the lecture — to which I above refer — it was very clearly, 
frankly, and ingenuously acknowledged, that the greatest 
question of this era is : that which is suggested by the modern 
"Rationalistic Theories of Religion as opposed to Super- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 15 

natural Revelation and Faith." A more lucid version would 
render the question in substance this : " Whether Rationalism 
should be permitted to supplant Supernaturalism, and preside 
henceforth over the minds of the people, and give direction 
in all matters pertaining to religious teaching, discipline, 
worship, and social organization ?" This is the plain state- 
ment of the question as I am impressed to apprehend it. It 
is exceedingly simple ; but none the less important. And it 

is enough to say, by way of special criticism, that Dr. B . 

stated this powerful problem at length ; with much clearness, 
beauty, and force of expression ; with much originality of ap- 
preciation and method ; and, above all, it was almost wholly 
free from that presumptuous and dogmatic style, which most 
clergymen employ, in describing the tendencies of the various 
innovations and the claims and positions of the reformers of 
the day. He was frank in his statements ; noble in his real- 
ization of the present colossal proportions of the Progressive 
Party ; and. fraternally disposed toward those who think dif- 
ferently from himself. And yet, it would not be improper to 
remark, that, although his language and method were free 
from uncharitableness and every species of church denun- 
ciation, still there was betrayed some severity toward the 
Progressive reformers, in the tone and alternating modulations 
of his voice. I mention this fact merely to show, that, inter- 
nally and privately, he experienced sensations of opposition 
to the different forms of social reform and Progress ; from 
which we may also safely infer, that he desires to establish a 
species of infallible Conservatism, or theological immutability, 
contrary in effect to all free thought and mental independence. 
A man may be very artistic and guarded in the choice of lan- 
guage by which to express his thoughts, and the expression 
of the muscles of the face may also be considerably controlled 
by the will ; but how true.it is that the eyes and voice are the 
never-failing indexes of the soul's paramount sensations ! 



16 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

As I am impressed, Dr. B . proposes, to reconcile, by 

a course of philosophical argumentation, the various forms 
of what he terms " Infidelity" with the received claims of 
" Christianity, as a system of salvation or redemption." He 
thinks he can, or earnestly prays that he may be able to, show 
conclusively " that the miracles, the incarnation of God in 
Christ, redemption, special providence, and prayer," are all 
perfectly consistent with established system and reconcilable 
with unchangeable principles. In other words, he thinks he 
can demonstrate that there is nothing which can prevent a 
reasonable reconciliation between " natural and revealed" re- 
ligion ; between modern Rationalism and .the supernatural 
system of Revelation and faith. 

Now one of two things, is certain ; either Dr. B . does 

not fully realize or comprehend his own position in the prem- 
ises, or else, he is not sufficiently single-minded to the de- 
mands of truth, and faithful to the silent convictions of his 
own soul. Because, in the matter of reconciliation, which he 
has in contemplation, there is surely nothing intrinsically op- 
posed to the fundamental teachings of Rationalistic Chris- 
tianity.* The Harmonial Philosophy — or modern spiritualism 
— has done this to the perfect satisfaction of its most enlight- 
ened students and believers. Miracles, the Incarnation, Re- 
demption from sin, through the exercise of the Christ principle, 
Special Providence through angelic ministrations, and Prayer 
even, are all embraced, by the Harmonial Philosophy, as ex- 
plainable upon unchangeable principles, which have pro- 
ceeded from Deity into and through the universe. If Dr. 
B . designs to assume this rationalistic method of explain- 
ing supernaturalism ; why — I ask — does he excite the appre- 
hensions of his hearers by describing the various forms of an 
insinuating and potent " Infidelity," which loads the mental 

* The reader may not altogether like this name 5 but I follow my impressions hi 
conforming to the use made of it. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 17 

atmosphere we unconsciously breathe with pestilential infec- 
tions and dangerous skepticism ? If he apprehends no in- 
trinsic antagonism between " Pantheism," when properly in- 
terpreted, " Physicalism, Geology, and the Sciences," and the 
system of a Supernatural Revelation and its corresponding 
teachings ; then — I inquire — why does he, in stating the 
great question, create a general prejudice against these 
features of modern Rationalism ? Why create a false issue 
in the premises ? Why not say frankly, that, in his opinion, 
the position of the Harmonial Philosophers or Spiritualists, is 
substantially correct ; but that he would prefer to receive the 
new doctrines with some modifications, and to clothe them, 
in order to make them his own, in his own peculiar and clas- 
sical nomenclature ? If he sincerely believes the two forms 
of faith to be reconcilable, and not incompatible ; then I hesi- 
tate not to affirm, that Dr. B . has created a useless 

question of distinction, without a difference, and an issue 
almost wholly false, in the minds of his people. But if, on 
the other hand, Dr. B . means by the system of Chris- 
tianity, that definition of supernaturalism which is generally 
accepted as orthodox in all Protestant countries, or among 
all enlightened sects ; then he has undertaken a work des- 
tined to be utterly valueless to the thinking world — because, 
he would be striving to prove that possibilities and impossi- 
bilities are merely twin-brothers in the great rationalistic 
or supernaturalistic system of the All- wise Creator. 

To apprehend Dr. B . as admitting, however remotely, 

the general doctrines of rationalistic Christianity, would be, 
as I am impressed psychometrically to regard his mind, very 
distasteful and disturbing to him. tie would prefer, doubt- 
less, to be apprehended or interpreted, — (for it seems to me 
that many of his statements require considerable interpreta- 
tion,) — to mean this : that he does not reject any scriptural 
definition of Christianity, nor any portion of the scheme of 

2 



18 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

"redemption" therein disclosed. Nay : but at the same time, 
he must be understood to be the special architect of his own 
theological temple ; the rearer and framer of his own theology 
and Christianity. He believes firmly in the purity and di- 
vinity of the Bible-materials. But with those materials no 
one can construct or erect a spiritual Zion to meet his wants, 
except himself ! Hence he differs quite conspicuously from 
all his brethren ; not however intrinsically and really, but 
externally and apparently. This fact alone makes him a 
modern Luther ; a reformer, not in spirit and in truth, but 
merely in the form or symbols of Christianity. Let us, then, 
do Dr. B . the justice to apprehend aright what he de- 
signedly signifies by Christianity. He means precisely what 
any other Bible-believer means. And let us, also, do him the 
justice to comprehend his meaning correctly, when he asserts, 
in substance, " that Infidelity, in its many and varied forms, 
is pervading and permeating the minds of the people." He 
means in reality precisely what any other churchman means 
by that term, viz. : any thing opposed to the form of conserva- 
tism which he has erected, or which is now in the process 
of erection, in his own particular mind. Again I say, that I 
feel no inward opposition to the principle of conservatism, con- 
sidered as a law of mental equilibrium ; only to its misappli- 
cation. And I repeat, that I am impressed to regard Dr. 
B . as the leader and embodiment of a new and more in- 
teresting form of Conservatism than has ever been constructed 
from the fossil vestiges of oriental theologies. But this theo- 
logical superstructure, — which he now contemplates and de- 
signs to erect in his own mind, and in which he supposes he 
will always find Christianity in its purest and highest form, — 
is happily not yet completed. It is now in the process of 
formation. And the hopes of the True Reformer, concerning 
the future usefulness of the mental labors of this Martin 
Luther to the world, must be suspended on the mere possi- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 19 

bility (which unfortunately is very slight,) that, when he 
comes to frame and adjust, the superior portions of his theo- 
logical temple, he may discover that the compartments are 
too contracted, and the dome too low, to suit the real wants 
of his expanding and aspiring nature ! 

It is now my impression to examine the introductory lec- 
ture of the course alluded to, on the foundation which he 
therein laid before the people, viz. : Rationalism as opposed 
to Supernaiuralism, — contemplating the ultimate reconcilia- 
tion of the two theories. For to apprehend him to mean, by 
supernaturalism or Christianity, any thing really different 
from the generally received opinions on that head, is to im- 
peach the soundness of his judgment regarding his own posi- 
tion in the premises, — to do which I have no inclination. I 
rather desire to believe him to be not fully aware of the 
deeper workings and convictions of his mind. I come now 
to the closer criticism. 

The Lecturer foreshadowed the whole question, and his fu- 
ture answer thereto, in this comprehensive passage — which he 
selected from the first chapter and seventeenth verse of Paul's 
epistle to the Colossians, — " And he is before all things, and 
by him all things consist." Of this scriptural assertion he 
discovered a parallelism, or correspondential indorsement, in 
the third verse of the first chapter of John ; where it is as- 
serted that, " All things were made by him, and without him 
was not any thing made that was made." Now if Dr. 
B . really believes that Christianity, " as a system of re- 
demption," was originally laid in the wisdom of the Infinite 
Mind before any thing was made ; and if he believes that, 
when that Mind elaborated the world, Christianity was in- 
corporated into the very soul of creation ; then why does he 
allow himself to betray, or to experience, any fear as to the 
safety of that system which God himself created and sustains? 



20 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

If Dr. B . believes Christianity to be a Principle of Love 

and salvation, incorporated in and unfolded out of the system 
of the world; then he unquestionably occupies Rationalistic 
grounds, in interpreting his theology ; and so there is an end 
to all cause of difference between us, on the fundamental 
points at issue. But he evidently does not occupy this posi- 
tion ; because he manifested great concern for the welfare 
and success of Christianity, as a scheme of redemption. 

Furthermore, if Dr. B . believes Christianity to be a 

spirit, and not a form — a principle operating between God 
and Man ; not confined to a mere combination of 'books called 
" the Bible ;" then he is clearly a believer in the fundamental 
teachings of the Harmonial Philosophy ; and thus, again, ends 
all cause of controversy. But I am impressed not to identify 
him with that which he himself did not originate and ac- 
knowledge ; for evidently he is never insensible to the Lu- 
ther feeling, — the marking out of an independent course to 
suit his own affections and gifted intellect. 

There is no disguising the plain, palpable fact that Dr. 
B . is not yet emancipated from the customary or popu- 
lar form of Christianity ; that is to say, he regards the Bible 
as the precious relic of what occurred twenty and more cen- 
turies ago — the Casket of a " system of Redemption," whose 
supposed jewels must not be examined ; except by the eye 
of a confiding, unreasoning faith. If he is to be received as 
the representative or exponent of his own thought ; then the 

above statement of Dr. B 's present position, is perfectly 

accurate. A mind thus trammeled, and thus manacled by 
the paper and ink habiliments of the Christian religion, can 
not adapt itself to the workings of the law of Progress. He- 
must, alas ! close his eyes to the operations of a progressive 
Christianity ; the great law of human destiny ! He must 
step blindfolded along the path of error, describe a circuitous 
and zigzag course in the fields of humanity and thought ; and, 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 21 

whilst the resplendent beams of an orient sun are lighting up 
the highway to social harmony and human happiness, he 
must close his eyes, and pretend not to see any " world- 
saving truth" in the sublime principles of modern reformation! 

Dr. B . is not yet, I repeat, emancipated from the 

paper and ink relics of Christianity. The New Testament 
is the only orthodox remains thereof; the only skeleton to 
remind one of the departed spirit. Alas ! what a " founda- 
tion of sand" to build a spiritual Zion upon. Every wind 
of doctrine threatens to demolish the splendid superstruc- 
ture. The Egyptian pyramids have withstood for long cen- 
turies the whirlwinds of the desert ; though they approach 
from "all directions" at the same time. But this is man's 
work. Surely, if the Bible is the pyramid of Christianity 
which God himself has erected on the moral desert of this 
world ; then can Dr. B . really believe, that the " whirl- 
wind of skepticism and infidelity, coming at once from all 
points of the compass," can overthrow the God-made super- 
structure ? To this question I earnestly solicit a reply. I 
know that there are watchmen on the towers of the modern 
Zion of ancient construction, whose cry is, " It is a Christian 
duty to hold reason in subjection to faith !" Yet the build- 
ing is in danger, because, forsooth, Truth, alone, can with- 
stand the surging billows of Time, of independent investi- 
gation, and remain forever unmoved and unchanged. 

Let us look at another point. If Dr. B . sincerely 

believes the New Testament to be a God-made book, and 
that the authority thereof should not be questioned by an 
enlightened reason, he surely was very injudicious, to say 
the least, to object, in the very onset, to the defective transla- 
tion of a portion of the text which headed his discourse. 
Nothing can be more productive of absolute faithlessness — 
especially in the youthful mind and rising generation — than 
the shadow of a suggestion that a passage of Scripture has 



22 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

been imperfectly or incorrectly translated by the talented 
English scholars. In one part of his discourse, the Lecturer 
stated, in a tone of voice somewhat ironical and sarcastic, 
that " Rationalists rejoiced and luxuriated in all good men," 
and that, when " it suited their convenience, they would even 
quote passages of Scripture." Now I object to such essential 
unfairness, especially when draped in very respectful and 
honest-sounding language. Surely, a reasonable man is al- 
ways pleased and at liberty to adopt the words of any author, 
in or out of the Bible, should these words express his own 
promptings and convictions. As for example : Dr. B— — . 
quoted from Paul a passage which plainly declared his own 
intellectual pre-conceived convictions ; with the qualifica- 
tion, however, that, " had the translation rendered the word 
' by,' ' in,' as it is in the original, the idea would be much 
stronger ;" and, consequently, far more suited to the intel- 
lectual conception which the Lecturer had formed of the 
system of the world, and the relation of God to it. Here, 
then, is an orthodox example of the rationalistic method of 
quoting Scripture, " when it is convenient," or illustrative 
of some particular thought or theme. Again, I can not but 
remark upon the injudiciousness and incautiousness of that 
mind, which, — while it professes to believe the Bible to be 
the pure and unalloyed Word of God,— yet so openly ven- 
tures to affirm that a passage therein is not correctly or in- 
fallibly translated. In this instance, the mistake of the 
translators is not essential. But what assurance have we 
that greater mistakes have not been made in other passages? 
Let us now think of the text. It was asserted that it 
imparted a clear " outlined conception" of the system of the 
world. Also, that it showed conclusively, that the whole 
" structure and plan of Christianity" were contemplated 
before the world was made ; and that it is, consequently, an 
institution laid within the constitution of things. To this I 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 23 

am moved again to reply, that, if Dr. B . means, by 

Christianity, a Principle of Love, — that redemption from 
sin is practicable through a personal and universal exer- 
cise of that principle,— a principle unfolded in the pro- 
gressive developments of nature and humanity ; then, he is 
with us, and we vjith him, and thus satisfactorily ends the 
controversy. In this case, his whole question, together with 
all his apprehensions about " Infidelity" and " Christianity," 
are based upon his own intellectual misconceptions ; the 
issue is false, and hence unnecessary. But that he does not 
take this ground has already been shown from his method. 
By Christianity he means precisely what every other Bible 
believer means by the term. Hence, in order to be perfectly 

sound and reasonable in his conclusions, Dr. B . must 

admit that the Deity actually planned- — -in the holy labyrinths 
of his wisdom, " before the world was made" — the garden 
of Eden ; the fail of man ; the misery of his offspring ; the 
deluge ; the confusion of tongues ; the vicarious atonement ; 
and the unutterable miseries of hell. Does this categoiy 
of evils seem like the handiwork of an all-wise and perfectly 
good Creator? But — no matter! It must be so, — that is, if 
the text under consideration is, in very truth, the word of 
God. For " He is before all things, and in him all things 
(not a portion of things, remember, but all things) consist." 

If Dr. B . were a rationalistic or spiritualistic Christian, 

this text would clash with no truth which his affections might 
feel or judgment comprehend. But as he is not, his position 
is exceedingly painful, inconsistent, and untenable. Indeed, 
the conflict which will inevitably be generated in his mind, 
by the entertainment of such hostile sentiments, and the 
attempt to reconcile them, will be sufficient, it seems to me, 
to force him, either into rationalistic doctrines, or else, into a 
deeper and more incurable conviction of the asserted truth 
of the Persian tale of Total Depravity ! That he may never 



24 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

find himself confirmed in the latter faith — in the slough of 
Despair, — in company with the giant bearing that name, — is 
my fervent prayer and hope. 

The text in question plainly asserts that, " he is before all 
things, and by (or in) him all things consist." Now, I ask : 

How does Dr. B . know that this text foreshadows a 

truthful conception of the outline or framework of Creation ? 
Does he adopt the rationalistic or eclectic method of quoting 
Scripture, " when it is convenient," to body forth the senti- 
ments of his own mind ? Or, does he take Paul's Epistle to 
the Colossians as divine authority ? If the former, then he 
is a Christian rationalist— a strict follower and advocate of 
the Harmonial Philosophy. If the latter, then he is standing 
upon a foundation as impermanent as the changeful sand. 
Unless he is very careful and sound in the assumption and 
establishment of his premises, the youthful minds of his con- 
gregation, and the rising generation of investigators, will 
surely find it out. If he takes St. Paul for his authority, and 
believes that the text is true on that ground ; then I must 
remind him of a fragment of church history, with which, as 
a scholar, he must assuredly be well acquainted. 

When the pure Hebrew tongue ceased to be vernacular, 
and the Jews had returned from Babylon, there was imme- 
diately formed a sacerdotal organization, and a committee 
of Rabbis was appointed to collect and preserve all the 
known Hebrew manuscripts. This was done ; and the 
parchments placed in the Sacrarium. It was not, however, 
until many years after the return of the Jews from the 
Babylonish captivity and exilement, that most of the books 
of the Old Testament were heterogeneously bound together. 
This was, properly speaking, the " Babylonian Canon ;" 
because it was originally made by the Chaldeanic Rabbis. 
But many years subsequent to this collection, there arose 
some considerable dissatisfaction and discussion among the 



THE APPROACHING CP.ISIS. 25 

younger Rabbis concerning the heterogeneousness of the first 
canon. Hence, by permission of the sacerdotal authorities, 
they rejected some books, arranged others in a different 
order, interpolated a few passages, and made another Testa- 
ment. This is properly termed the " Jerusalem Canon ;" 
because it was made by the Jews of Palestine. During all 
this time, — owing to local oppressions and temporary emer- 
gencies, — books, by the Jews, containing multifarious specu- 
lations and national prophecies, multiplied very rapidly. 
Parties and preferences became numerous, and began to 
create dissatisfaction in regard to the last Canon which was 
formed ; and so, apparently to keep up with the demands of 
the times, another Old Testament was formed — the " Alex- 
andrian Canon" — in Egypt. All these compilations, be it 
remembered, were different. At this time, the book of 
Daniel was generally regarded as the creation of an eccen- 
tric old Jew, who was talented, and a seceder from the reg- 
ular priesthood. Hence, that interesting part of the present 
orthodox Old Testament, was not then universally received 
as containing reliable inspiration. 

Now I feel moved to inquire : Does Dr. B . design to 

take the ground, that the Bible is the actual and immutable 
foundation of religion ? Or, that the New Testament is the 
only foundation and evidence of Christianity ? Does he be- 
lieve that, when we reject the paper and ink clothing of 
Christianity, we thereby lose the soul or principle ? 

Christianity as it is in fact, — and as regarded by all intelli- 
gent rationalistic philosophers, — never exerted so much sav- 
ing or reformatory power upon the human mind as it did in 
the first century, when there ivas no such a thing in existence 
as a New Testament. Christianity is one thing ; the New 
Testament is quite another. In fact, the New Testament is 
a name which does not signify a book ; but a Dispensation. 
St. Paul did not write his speculations, concerning faith and 



26 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

redemption, to be read and adopted by all generations 
after him. His thoughts and epistles were developed by, 
and written for, special and particular occasions. His 
epistles — to the Romans, to the Thessalonians, to the Colos- 
sians, &c. — were especially adapted to the existing wants of 
those respective churches ; but not to the wants or require- 
ments of the nineteenth century. Indeed, the writings of 
Paul were twice rejected as authority ; and at last it was 
fully determined by the bench of Bishops, under the Empe- 
ror Constantine, that he should be placed in the gallery of 
the Old Theological Masters, as an inspired penman. 

Here, then, is the important point to settle before proceed- 
ing further: viz., — Does Dr. B . quote from St. Paul 

a text, axiomatically, as a motto, because it expresses the 
impressions of his own mind ? If so ; what necessity is 
there for creating a seeming difference between our Ration- 
alism and his Supernaturalism ? For in such a case he is 
manifestly assuming the " Sovereignty of Reason," as a 
power superior to the Bible revelation. This is the crime 
— the only crime — of the so-called infidels. Or, does he 
take the New Testament to be the " Word of God," and the 
text in Colossians as divine and immutable authority ? If 
so ; how will he explain the human formation of the Bible, 
and the unsatisfactory translation of the text ? My impres- 
sion is, simply, to solicit the Lecturer's attention to the 
solution of these important considerations in the prem- 
ises, in order that he may the more perfectly cure the 
skepticism and rationalism existing and developing in this 
world. 

When Dr. B -. rolled up the curtain, which permitted 

us to view the Greek theater ; how artistically did he cause 
to be enacted the strange drama — almost the tragedy— of 
" Speculation and Superstition." He showed " the ingenu- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 27 

ity" with which the abounding myths and Egyptian super- 
stitions of still earlier times were caused to disappear by the 
Greek philosophers and sophists. Or, in other language, 
how the speculatists, having " some regard for the religious 
feelings of the people," concluded to resolve the furies and 
myths into symbols and presiding deities. Then the Doctor 
showed his audience what the furies, thus symbolized and 
classified, did " above ground" and also under the earth. 
And the Greek sophists, — said the Lecturer,— finally succeed- 
ed in making God and Creation one and the same thing ; re- 
duced every thing, of a religious nature, to the common 
level ; and ingeniously demonstrated all things to be moving 
in harmony with the " unchangeable laws of an endless 
cycle." 

Now arises a question. Why did Dr. B . allude to this 

piece of Greek history ? Why did he dwell on the terms 
"speculatists, philosophers, and sophists," and the reduction 
of all religious things to " the unchangeable laws of an endless 
cycle ?" Surely his text teaches precisely the same doctrine. 
" In him all things consist," says the text ; which is merely a 
synoptical or synthetical method of asserting, that " Nature 
is bathed in the Spirit of God — is penetrated and sustained 
by him ; that all things exist and operate according to un- 
changeable law." The talented Dr. subsequently considered 
this doctrine of modern rationalism ; acknowledged " that 
Hume was right in affirming, that nothing could possibly 
occur contrary to established law and system ;" and substan- 
tially confessed, also, a belief, in the Harmonial doctrine, 
that there can not be any real conflict between Nature and 
Supernaturalism, when the two are properly comprehended. 
Now why did he — with such a text, with such convictions, 
and with such noble concessions — roll up the Greek curtain, 
to show to the young minds of his congregation the "in- 
genuity of the Greek Philosophers" in sifting, rejecting, and 



28 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

symbolizing the religion of that era ; which, he said, they 
called " Superstition ?" Was it to give them an idea of 
history ? Was it to display his ability to trace out and com- 
prehend the whole origin and scope of Rationalism ? Far 
from it. His only design was this : to draw a prejudicial 
parallelism between the philosophers of Greece and those 
who are to-day denominated philosophers ; to make the peo- 
ple see that the exposition of superstition, by modern " specu- 
latists," is achieved by " ingenuity," and not by Truth ; to 
create an impression that that which is termed Harmonial 
Philosophy, is merely the revival of old ideas and long ex- 
ploded speculations ; to prejudice the people, in a word, 
against almost every thing of this century, which bears the 
general features of a rational reformation ; and yet, the Dr., 
it seems to me, is too highly endowed with a love of truth 
and benevolence to permit him to draw the parallelism too 
bold and rugged, or to enforce too earnestly its acceptation. 
The enlightened mind, however, can not but regret any such 
attempt on the Lecturer's part ; because it shows conclusively, 
that his mind has not yet attained that moral growth which 
is capable of conducting a perfectly free and impartial inves- 
tigation. Nevertheless, he is far superior to the popular spe- 
cies of clerical opposition to new truth ; and declares him- 
self " no enemy to science ;" nor yet jealous of the truths 
uttered by Pantheists, or Humeites, or Physicalists, or by 
Phrenologists even, whose "gospel," said the lecturer, "is 
Combe on the Constitution of Man." These concessions give 
promise of something like a religious reformation. 

That I have apprehended and interpreted Dr. B . aright 

in his parallelism, may be seen from the question he asked in 
that department of his discourse — viz. : " Is Christianity, as 
a system of faith and redemption, to meet with the same 
fate?" That is : is it to be resolvedby modern speculatists, — as 
the Greek philosophers sifted and resolved the then prevailing 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 29 

superstitions, — into symbols and things, moving in harmony 
with the unchangeable laws of an endless cycle ? 

The Dr. thinks the "Infidelity" of to-day, is hydra-headed ; 
coming from all directions — setting in one strong current 
against, and threatening to overthrow, the foundations of a 
supernaturalistic Christianity. Now whether a supernatur- 
alistic system of Christianity will be hurled from its founda- 
tions, in the opinion of Dr. B ., will be decided and de- 
termined by what he defines that foundation to be. If he 
defines the foundation or basis of Christianity to be the Bible ; 
then he may rest assured that super naturalism, as the world 
defines it, will fall ere long to the earth. But on the other 
hand, if he resolves, like the Greek philosophers, the super- 
stitions of Christianity into symbols ; and, like the so- termed 
Harmonial Philosophers, accepts the foundation of Christianity 
as resting wholly upon Principle, then he can also rest per- 
fectly assured, that the ten thousand and one currents may 
set in against it, but its power upon the human heart will 
surely be all the more augmented. For assuredly, in this 
comprehensive sense, Christianity was eternally laid in the 
Wisdom of the Infinite Mind — " in whom all things consist." 

The gospel of " Combe on the Constitution of Man," will 
contain — if the Lecturer comes to this rationalistic position, — ■ 
no injurious or anti-Christian doctrines ; though it proves 
crime to originate in organization, " confuses," according to 
his assertion, " duty with penalties and benefits," and leads 
the reader to social re-organization, as a means of redemp- 
tion from sin and misery. Surely, Dr. B . will not desire 

or attempt to refute these doctrines. A little calm reflection 
will certainly convince him that mental organization and so- 
cial situation has much to do in molding and destinating the 
individual. If the Lecturer comes to see truths just as and 
where they are : he will inevitably think better of " Social- 
ism" so-called ; better of " Revelations about the Spheres" 



30 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

through magnetism ; better of " necromantic conjurations" 
and spirit-seeing ; better of " Unitarianism," though it does 
tardily accept the miracles, believes in a remote Christianity, 
and rejects the person of Christ as a " Redeemer," in the or- 
thodox signification. But whether he does, or does not, come 
to see truths just as and where they are, is a question which 
his present course of lectures will eventually determine. I, 
for one, await the result with no little interest ; and I can 
only breathe forth an indwelling prayer, that he may work 
out a system of reform. 

In conclusion, I again affirm that this criticism is not a 
matter between two individuals. It is human freedom and 
independence against a new modification of an old form of 
conservatism ; the misapplication of which, to the present 
wants of mankind and the Age, is the ground of the present 
controversy. 

Dr. B . referred to the ingenious manner with which 

the Greek Philosophers detected and dissipated the prevailing 
superstitions. I would ask, if he remembers the historical 
statement, that Socrates was condemned to swallow the 
juice of hemlock, for teaching the Athenians the existence of 
a Supreme Being ? — a doctrine in which I apprehend the Dr. 
to be a firm believer. The inspiration, then, of God — of the 
doctrine of the Unity of God — was extended to the soul of 
a Greek Philosopher ! Even so, as " all scripture is by inspi- 
ration," may not the philosophers of to-day, — having the 
wisdom and experience of the past before them, and receiv- 
ing the increasing influx of fresher truths from superior 
spheres into their souls, — bring out a fairer faith, and a prin- 
ciple of greater saving power, than the forms and faiths of 
the present age, which are the bequeathments of superannuated 
centuries ? It seems, according to his expressed declarations, 
that Dr. B . is not jealous of science, nor yet at enmity 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 31 

with the general materialistic tendencies of this age. He 
seems to contemplate a reconciliation between Nature and 
Revelation. This is possible only on the ground which I 
have already defined ; which would, of course, be identical 
with the one we at present stand upon ; viz. — upon Ration- 
alistic Christianity ; not upon " Supernaturalistic Revela- 
tion," as generally defined as truly orthodox, by the Christian 

world. But what Dr. B . is destined to accomplish, in 

the capacity of a modern Luther, — as a theological refor- 
mer, — is yet to be developed to our perceptions and under- 
standings. We may say to him, however, and with the most 
fraternal inclinations, too, that Christianity, as received by 
the citizens of Hartford, will never prove itself to be a satisfac- 
tory system of redemption. For if he will philosophically 
and dispassionately analyze the origin and nature of man's 
vices and passions, he will surely discover, in the ultimate 
analysis, that the worst manifestations of character are forti- 
fied in the strong entrenchments of religious and social insti- 
tutions. And the remaining and ordinary evils of mankind, 
he can legitimately trace to the improper or ignorant procre- 
ation of our species. I respectfully request Dr. B 's at- 
tention to a calm consideration of the above propositions. 

If the high-minded man — who penned that precious " gos- 
pel on the constitution of man" — was here, he would speak 
to us, in his own familiar language, and say : — The clergy- 
man assails the vices and inordinate passions of mankind by 
the denunciations of the Bible ; but as long as society shall 
be animated by different principles, and maintain in vigor in- 
stitutions whose spirit is diametrically opposite to its doc- 
trines, so long will it be difficult for him to affect the realiza- 
tion of his frequently urged precepts in practice. Yet it 
appears to me, that, by teaching mankind the philosophy of 
their own nature and of the world in which they live, — by 
demonstrating to them the coincidence between the dictates 



32 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

of this philosophy and true Christian morality, and the incon- 
sistency of their own institutions with both, — they may be 
induced to supplant their bad institutions by good ones ; thus 
to entrench and strongly fortify the moral attributes of 
man ; and then the triumph of virtue and Religion will 
be more complete and certain. Those who advocate the 
exclusive importance of a supernaturalistic religion for the 
improvement and redemption of mankind, appear to me to 
err in overlooking too much the necessity for complying with 
the natural conditions on which all true improvement depends. 
I anticipate that, when schools and colleges shall expound the 
various branches of this philosophy as portions of the natural 
revelations of the Creator — when the pulpit shall deal with 
the same principles, show their practical application to man's 
duties and enjoyments — and when the activities of life shall 
be so arranged, as to become a field for the pleasurable prac- 
tice at once of our philosophy and our religion ; then will 
man attain the position of a rational being, and Christianity 
achieve her highest triumph ! 



SECOND REVIEW. 



Knowledge is progressive ; but faith is conservative. I 
mean that faith which the mind has been forced or educated 
to accept in its early years ; a faith which has attained a high 
place in the affections, where Reason is seldom allowed to 
enter. There that conservative opinion stands, venerable 
with age, an idol of the mind ; supporting itself by two 
staffs which it holds in its hands, — one composed of the sanc- 
tion of Time ; the other, of the authority of great names. 
Now it frequently happens, that when we hear a clear voice 
emanating from the professional preacher, having all the 
common features and semblance of pure reason, and causing 
us to imagine, for the time being, that Reason, " that heaven- 
lighted lamp in man," is really the source of what we hear ; 
yet, after all, we discover that we merely hear the affection- 
ate and conservative voice of that venerable Idol ; whose 
substance is derived from past dogmas and whose life is 
absorbed from the weaker elements of the mind. 

But then there is a far truer faith ; a pure and progressive 
faith ; one which should be forever enshrined in the soul's 
affections — a faith, I mean, which is generated by appropri- 
ate and adequate evidence ; a free-born child of the under- 
standing ! The fair child of reason is never afraid to expose 
itself to the inspection of the world ; never shrinks from the 
thought of displacement, should another and a better off- 
spring, from the same parent, seek to occupy its seat in the 

3 



34 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

affections or to exert its benignant influence upon the intel- 
lect. Now, the difference between a faith which controls the 
understanding, and a faith which cheerfully obeys the voice 
of an enlightened Reason, — as a dutiful child the mind of its 
parent, — is very conspicuous and unmistakable. The con- 
servative child, — to preserve the analogy, whose parents are 
authority and antiquity, — always employs the faculties of 
reason as special advocates and counselors. Let any new 
discovery appear, and the conservative employs Reason forth- 
with to use its native wisdom and dignity, in the capacity of 
an attorney, to argue against the approaching innovation. 
Let philosophy teach the plain doctrine that the physical and 
moral government of God is founded upon certain great gen- 
eral laws, — teach that obedience to these laws brings its own 
happiness and rewards, and disobedience its own adequate pun- 
ishments, — and you will see conservatism, with all the erudi- 
tion and talent it can possibly command, fully aroused to a 
sense of approaching " danger' and the immediate necessity 
of greater vigilance. Let Geology arise from the sepulchre 
of earth and stone, and read in a confident voice the gospel 
which nature has been myriads of centuries in writing upon 
the broad tablets of the inner world ; and, lo ! the Child of 
Conservatism is alarmed for the safety of her strong towers, 
and seeks the startling words — "deception" — "infidelity" — 
" innovation," — as expressive of its fear of the new mani- 
festation. 

Not so with the Child of the Reason. Having inherited by 
hereditary transmission of qualities, the ruling characteristics 
of its progenitor, the faith of the understanding is always 
ready to hear, to investigate, and to obey. It feels a religious 
confidence in the decisions of its progenitor. And although 
it changes in order to suit the increasing demands of pro- 
gressive principles ; yet it is as fixed and unyielding, in its 
spirit, as Truth is immutable and honesty inexorable. It is, 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 35 

therefore, an easy thing to decide in what minds the reason- 
principle is held in subjection to faith, or where faith exists as 
an effect of knowledge, based upon the reason-principle. We 
must always judge by the external manifestation. 

In my review of Dr. B 's introductory discourse, on 

rationalism as opposed to supernaturalism, I was impressed to 
affirm, that I did not regard his conservatism as wrong in 
itself — considered as a principle or characteristic of mind ; 
but that it is exceedingly at fault in its present mode of mani- 
festation. This tendency to wrongly use a prudential fac- 
ulty, by a mind enriched with good native powers and a 
scholastic education, was very faintly foreshadowed in Dr. 

B 's first lecture. But in his second discourse, delivered 

by him last Sabbath evening, he developed in bold relief the 
fact, that he has not yet attained that harmonious moral 
growth which enables the mind to conduct an honest and 
impartial investigation. 

Of the latter discourse I may in this place briefly say, that 
it was not as well conceived and elaborated as the former ; 
neither did it contain the perspicuity and beauty of expres- 
sion ; the broadness of thought ; nor the purity of feeling ; 
which characterized the opening lecture. Nor was he so 
ingenuous in his allusions to the positions which the ration- 
alists occupy. On the former occasion, his language was 
free from unfairness and derision ; and only betrayed some 
severity toward the Progressive Party in the modulations of 
his voice ; but, in the second discourse, his method and words 
were more suited to the internal feelings which prompted the 
anxious and disturbed manner of his delivery. None of this 
would emanate from a mind which fully realizes that Truth 
is immortal and God unchangeable ; that all things must have 
a high and happy termination ; because the Lord God om- 
nipotent reigneth. Why the Dr. does not fortify himself in 
this conviction, and set about the discharge of his highest 



36 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

duties with a positive, frank, and calm demeanor, is a ques- 
tion which he can best answer, and reconcile to the inexora- 
ble principles of truth and invincible honesty. 

Dr. B . originally avowed the principal object of his 

lectures to be centered in this thought — viz. : to effect a rec- 
onciliation between Naturalism and Supernaturalism, to the 
end that the young minds of the community might be pre- 
served or reclaimed from the vortex of a manifold infidelity. 
He began very nobly the task before him, and laid the foun- 
dation broad and somewhat logically ; but it seems thus far 
that he builds the house with no strict reference to the shape 
and principles of the primary arrangement. He does not do 
himself justice as a theological architect. This can not but 
be regretted. For there are many honest-minded citizens 
awaiting and watching the erection of the new Zion ; which 
this Luther has promised to erect on the rock of ages,— an 
impregnable and indestructible fortress, in w r hich to place 
the purest and highest form of Christianity, where it can for- 
ever remain unmoved and unchanged by the march of intelli- 
gence and human independence. Upon an octagon founda- 
tion, he builds a three-cornered house. Upon a foundation 
large enough to embrace the whole human family, he erects 
a temple scarcely capable of meeting the internal wants of 
his own mind. Such inconsistency, alas, is the common, 
inevitable result of the pernicious habit of maintaining the 
reason-principle in a state of subordination to Faith. 

I come now to consider Dr. B- 's second discourse ; 

with strict reference to its inconsistencies and details. 

He opened with his text, selected from that classic book 
attributed to Job, eleventh chapter, ninth verse, wherein it is 
asserted that the perfections of the Almighty lie beyond man's 
limited comprehension. " The measure thereof is longer than 
the earth, and broader than the sea." In this connection, 
Dr. B . glanced at the transcendent efforts of the human 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 37 

mind. How it searches and explores the earth ; calculates 
its extents and magnitudes ; and mounts on high, to examine 
the distant myriad orbs whose light has been ages in travel- 
ing toward and reaching our planet. Mind, he said, has ex- 
erted its powers to comprehend the drops in the great fire- 
ocean, which constitutes the physical universe. But failing 
to achieve its object, the mind comes back to earth, exhausted 
and overwhelmed with the contemplation. Still it is not 
satisfied, and so recovers strength for a fresh exertion. It 
mounts again, on the wings of fancy, and climbs the rugged 
sides of the material creation, in order to get at or "imagine 
something" to meet the soul's demands for the mysterious and 
the supernatural. Hence it sets its speculative faculties en- 
ergetically into play, and "imagines spheres, &c, entirely 
above the comprehension of reason." 

From this Dr. B— — . inferred that Nature could not be 
" the system of God ;" and that man absolutely demands, in 
the deeper wants and consciousness of his nature, a faith 
independent of, and above, reason or unilluminated judgment. 
From this proposition the Lecturer derived what he termed, 
his essential "definition" of Nature in contradistinction to 
the Supernatural system. He confessed, that, unless his 
definition was understood and accepted by the audience, 
all his subsequent reasonings would be obscure and almost 
valueless. Therefore, as this " definition" is the main point or 
the very foundation of all he designs to say, in the great work 
of reconciling rationalism with supernaturalism, it is but just 
to him that we proceed to analyze and examine this corner- 
stone of the supernatural temple. He said, in substance, that 
the spirit of God must be " longer than the earth, and broader 
than the sea ;" that extents and magnitudes " expressed" the 
deific spirit, but did not " include" him ; that we, in our 
speculations, might expand matter or the material creation 
illimitably, but God was more expanded and more illimitable. 



38 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

In a word, that the " system of Nature by itself is not the 

system of God." Dr. B . then defined Nature to be a 

" system within itself." In its inherent laws and materia! 
combinations, almost wholly independent of "the supernatural 
creation, which is particularly the system of God !" Dr. 

B . thinks that Nature is a " system of cause and effect ; 

but, that the Supernatural is not subsisting upon, and con- 
trolled by, these mechanical forces or reciprocal principles." 
He thinks, that when miracles are performed, the result is 
accomplished, not "by violating or suspending any of the 
inherent laws of Nature," but by the action of the super- 
natural kingdom or government of God upon Nature, — pro- 
ducing effects and phenomena therein, which could never 
otherwise be developed by the unceasing operations of na- 
ture's inherent principles. Dr. B 's definition, therefore, 

amounts substantially to this : that Nature is a system of 
matter, mechanism, and forces, operating outside of, and a 
long way beneath, the real kingdom and government of 
God ; that the Supernatural system, which is far greater and 
beyond the extents and magnitudes of the system of nature, 
and is the system of God, "operates upon the world," — and 
produces therein effects and miracles, varying very promi- 
nently from the usual progressive developments of unchange- 
able laws, — without disturbing or suspending, in the least de- 
gree, the general processes of natural or causative creation. 

Dr. B . was very desirous that the people should accept 

this definition, to the end that his future lectures might have 
the desired effect. Now this is all exceedingly superficial 
and unsound. I make no doubt but that his reasonings and 
deductions would be very good and legitimate, in case we 
adopt his premises as fixed and unquestionable truths. But 
this can not be allowed him. For his premises are contra- 
dicted by every thing in existence ; as I will presently pro- 
ceed to demonstrate. His reasonings and conclusions, I 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 39 

repeat, would doubtless be sufficiently sound and logical, if 
we should admit the foundation as resting in immutable truth. 
So, indeed, would the reasoning of a man be correct, who 
should first lay it down as a fixed fact that Hartford was 
submerged in twenty feet of water ; and, then, proceed to 
lecture to the people of New York, stating that none of the 
houses could be entered or inhabited except on the second 
and third floors ; and that the citizens were obliged to do 
their trading and visiting by means of boats and various kinds 
of vessels. But suppose a skeptic should doubt, not the 
premises which the lecturer had assumed with so much con- 
fidence, but the general conclusions about going only in boats 
from place to place. Accordingly he would ask — " Are not 
some houses built sufficiently firm and tight to keep the water 
out the lower stories ? Are the people in. fact all driven from 
their kitchens and stores to the upper floors ?" " Most cer- 
tainly," replies the lecturer, " for this very good and satisfac- 
tory reason : the water is twenty feet high, above the surface 
of the earth. If the water is so high throughout Hartford, 
your judgment will enable you to perceive, that it would 
necessarily flow into the houses through the lower windows, 
&c. ; and that all the effects named must result as a natural 
consequence, from such an inundation." " True," replies the 
skeptic, " the inhabitants of Hartford must be disturbed and 
suffering just as you describe. For if there are twenty feet 
in height of water, in the streets, your reasoning is all entirely 
sound and conclusive. But I would prefer being better satis- 
fied first as to the foundation upon which you predicate the 
account, — -that is, to ascertain if there be an inundation. 
Now, this skeptic comes directly to Hartford, and dis- 
covers, to his great surprise and satisfaction, no water in the 
streets, — that no such deluge had taken place, and the in- 
habitants were undisturbed. He therefore says to himself: 
" the lecturer reasoned very legitimately from his undemon- 



40 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

strated premises ; but now, the whole relation falls to earth, 
because the foundation is shown to be a groundless or un- 
tenable assumption." 

So with Dr. B 's definition. His reasonings would be 

perfectly logical and conclusive — indeed, I may say quite un- 
answerable — if he first makes it appear satisfactory and 
certain, that his interpretations of Nature and Supernatural- 
ism are based and grounded in the essence of truth. But a 
true reformer in thought — a true investigator, one whose faith 
is an effect of a preponderance of adequate evidence, and not 
of theological and superficial education — must have the 
strongest possible historical, chronological, and intuitive de- 
monstration that Nature is not " the system of God," before 
the conclusions, or superstructure, which are made to repose 
upon that proposition, are, in his opinion, entitled to careful 
consideration and worthy of credence. 

His definition of supernaturalism in contradistinction to 
Nature, is not essentially different from the common orthodox 
opinions on that head. It is substantially identical with the 
written views of all the principal Christian scholars. Hence 
Dr. B . is not so truly a reformer in spirit ; but an icono- 
clast — a reformer of the form. This fact must be a matter 
of sincere regret to all lovers of free thought, of unrestricted 
inquiry, and mental progression. 

The Lecturer briefly alluded to the " confusion among ra- 
tionalists" as to what Nature is, or should be denned to mean. 
He thought this fact " weakened" the force of all their argu- 
ments against supernaturalism. But this is evidently a misap- 
prehension. Rationalistic arguments may be sound in Chemis- 
istry, in Geology, in Astronomy, &c. ; while their individual 
definitions of the general system of Nature may be as hete- 
rogeneous and conflicting as the different learned commen- 
taries upon the Sacred Scriptures. It is my impression, 
that the Lecturer has not given his " definition" of Nature 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 41 

and of Super-nature sufficient reflection. There is an ab- 
sence of consistency and congruity in his views — a result, 
it appears to me, of his repugnance to seeing and acknowl- 
edging new truths in the multiform and stupendous develop- 
ments of the present era. Does he remember the opening 
text quoted from St. Paul — " And he is before all things, and 
in him all things consist" ? Now, if " Nature is not the 
system of God," or included within that system ; how, — I 
inquire, — can the above text be a perfect and infallible 
utterance of truth ? If " all things consist" in God, — how 
can Nature be outside or beneath the including spirit ? If 
the supernaturalist means to say, that Nature is the Material 
Universe, and that the supernaturalistic realm should be un- 
derstood to mean the Spiritual Universe,— in which the Spirit 
of God is manifested more visibly than in the physical crea- 
tion ; then, he is certainly developing an unreal and hence 
wholly unnecessary difference between Rationalists and 
Irrationalists. For the above is comprehensively our " defi- 
nition" of the system of Nature. 

Upon this basis, the term " super-nature" may be reasona- 
bly employed to signify any thing which is high and 
spiritually exalted, yet homogeneous with the visible and 
material ; — the difference in this interpretation consisting 
not in the kind and quality, but in the degree and condition 
exclusively. Thus, — for example, — the human body is 
called the " physical man," and the human mind the " spirit- 
ual man ;" yet the two, being united by the common liga- 
ments and ties of sympathy and harmony, constitute one 
harmonious system. Even so, — on the soul-exalting princi- 
ple that all truth is a Unit and intrinsically harmonious, — 
may we not rationally conclude, that the material creation, 
expanding far and wide throughout the illimitable infinitude, 
is the " physical universe ;" and that the superior and ulti- 
mate departments of the same identical system, — embracing 



42 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

all the future habitations and realms of the soul, — constitute 
the " spiritual universe," wherein, more particularly and man- 
ifestly, we shall enjoy " the Lord of Hosts" — all the more 
for then fully realizing the now inconceivably glorious fact, 
that in him all things consist ? 

This is the definition of Nature which is suggested by the 

Harmonial Philosophy. Now, why does Dr. B . refuse 

to recognize a definition, which may be considered as the 
only real rationalistic view of Nature known to the world ? 
For all the scientific and philosophic views ever elsewhere 
presented, — except in three or four instances of eminent 
productions, — are mainly fragmentary, speculative, or hypo- 
thetical. If Dr. B- . would accept the Rationalistic 

method of reconciling " naturalism with supernaturalism," 
he would most assuredly escape the horrid overwhelming 
vortex of theological inconsistences to which he is now evi- 
dently but unconsciously hastening. Indeed, he would then 
survive the keener and far-reaching analysis of the rising 
generations of the earth, and would hold a sacred place in 
the reasonable affections of his advancing countrymen, as 
the leader of a principle of Conservatism, which favored the 
development of science and the application of a pure reli- 
gious philosophy to the work of human redemption and 
universal improvement. 

But what a low and unsatisfactory estimate did Dr. B . 

make of Nature ! It would seem that he had gone bach to 
Job in order to get a " definition" of the magnitudes and 
extents of the system of the world — yea, gone back three 
thousand years, to a period when the people had no ships 
whereby to learn the breadth and wonders of the sea ; no 
systems of measurement to calculate latitudes and longi- 
tudes, and the length of the earth ; no telescopes, wherewith 
to ascertain the extents and immensities of creation — a 
period, in short, when the territories of Oregon would fill the 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 43 

then prevailing conceptions of Nature, and Lake Erie the 
general idea of a Sea ! 

The wondrous immensities and peaceful harmonies of the 
Universe, the unutterable unity and silent operations of all 
created things, we are too apt to forget or neglect to properly 
examine. " What mere assertion will make any man be- 
lieve," remarks the celebrated Herschel, in his Discourse on 
Natural Philosophy, "that in one second of time, in one beat 
of the pendulum of a clock, a ray of light travels over one 
hundred and ninety-two thousand miles, and would, there- 
fore, perform the tour of the world in about the same time 
that it requires to wink with our eyelids, and in much less 
than a swift runner occupies in taking a single stride ? 
What mortal can be made to believe, without demonstration, 
that the sun is almost a million times larger than the earth ? 
and that, although so remote from us that a cannon-ball, 
shot directly toward it and maintaining its full speed, would 
be twenty years in reaching it, it yet affects the earth, by its 
attraction, in an appreciable instant of time ? Who would 
not ask for demonstration, when told that a gnat's wing, in 
its ordinary flight, beats many hundred times in a second ? 
or, that there exist animated and regularly organized beings, 
many thousands of whose bodies, laid close together, would 
not extend an inch ? But what are these to the astonishing 
truths which modern optical inquiries have disclosed, which 
teach us, that every point of a medium through which a ray 
of light passes is affected with a succession of periodical 
movements, regularly recurring, at equal intervals, no less 
than five hundred millions of millions of times in a single 
second ! — that it is by such movements, communicated to 
the nerves of the eyes, that we see ; nay, more, that it is the 
difference, in the frequency of their recurrence, which affects 
us with the sense of the diversity of color ; that, for instance, 
in acquiring the sense of redness, our eyes are affected four 



44 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

hundred and eighty-two millions of millions of times ; of yel- 
lowness, five hundred and forty-two millions of millions of 
times ; and of violet, seven hundred and seven millions of 
millions of times per second. Do not such things sound 
more like the ravings of madmen than the sober conclusions 
of men in their waking senses ? They are, nevertheless, 
conclusions to which any one may most certainly arrive, 
who will only be at the trouble of examining the chain of 
reasoning by which they have been obtained." 

The earth was originally believed to be the Center and 
Circumference of all creation ; and the vast arena of all the 
supernatural and capricious miracles of Omnipotence. Ac- 
cording to Job's own testimony, the Lord was even engaged 
in afflicting him, who, while he perpetually — with prayers 
and complaints — acknowledged himself to be under the spe- 
cial guidance of the Almighty Power, and confessed depend- 
ence thereon for existence, diseases, troubles, &c. ; yet he 
prayed for a commutation of the punishments arbitrarily 
inflicted upon him, as if there then existed between Job 
and the Ruler of this immeasurable and stupendous Uni- 
verse, a private amity and confidential correspondence ! 
Now if such an instance of supernatural familiarity and 

presumptive arrogance was stated to Dr. B . as having 

occurred ten days since with a Hartford citizen, or with 
some enthusiast, he would either indignantly repel the ac- 
count as supremely absurd and blasphemous, and dogmati- 
cally set it down to voluntary deception, or else to the long- 
ings of the soul after something supernatural, transcendental, 
and above the powers of the reason-principle. 

After giving the erroneous impression that Nature is but 
an isolated " system of cause and effect" — of godless and in- 
ert forms and combinations of matter, the Lecturer then pro- 
ceeded to show that nothing could satisfy man's internal 
wants but " a system of svpernaturalism ;" that Man must and 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 45 

will have something mysterious and miraculous — a faith su- 
perior to reason, argument, or judgment. It is necessary to 

remember, my friends, that we are now examining Dr. B 's 

propositions and evidences of the existence of a system of 
supernaturalism ; which, by acting upon or in the present 
world, develops the many and varied effects which Nature, 
by herself considered, could never accomplish by the un- 
ceasing operation of her undeviating and abiding forces. 
These evidences should be duly examined ; and I now pro- 
ceed to utter my impressions concerning them. 

First : that man's prevailing desire for a mystical faith — 
for a faith in something mysterious and supernatural — is a 
strong presumptive evidence, that such " a system really 
exists beyond nature." 

To this I am impressed to say, that so far is this desire 
from being an evidence in favor of, it is more perfectly a 
powerful evidence against a system of supernaturalism, as 
disconnected from Nature. A desire for the marvelous is 
the legitimate child of Ignorance. Every enlightened mind 
shrinks from incomprehensible mysteries. He loves, and 
desires, and demands light and knowledge. Miracles do not 
excite his respect and veneration ; they amaze and confound 
his understanding. He desires new and better develop- 
ments ; but repels every thing that bears the stamp of the 
supernatural, unless it promises to yield forth a consistent 
Truth. If he has a faith, it is a child of his judgment ; the 
result of preponderating evidences. Hope, that darling of 
his affections, draws its highest nourishments chiefly from 
the fertile sources of reason. He has a reason for his hope. 
It is only the uneducated mind that yearns for the romantic, 
the absolutely supernatural, and the incomprehensible. 

Second : Dr. B . thinks, and openly asserted, that the 

mysteries of human magnetism constitute one evidence that 
people long for the supernatural ; he thinks, also, that another 



46 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

inferential proof is derivable from the strange career of the 
Mormons. Now this is all wrong. For the mysteries of human 
magnetism are simply the normal operations of the natural 
sympathies of the human body and mind. These operations 
are mysterious and supernatural, only, to those who can not 
or dare not make them a matter of fair and thorough investi- 
gation. Dr. B. 's allusion to this subject betrayed very 

conspicuously the fact, that he had not sufficiently familiar- 
ized his mind with the great general natural principles upon 
which all magnetic phenomena invariably depend and unde- 
viatingly occur. As to the Mormons, it is but common 
justice to say, that, as a peculiar religious people, there is 
among them no stronger " desire" than a firm determination 
to improve, if possible, the social existence and governmental 
arrangements of mankind upon strictly religious principles. 
Becoming satisfied that Christianity, as now inculcated, 
could not accomplish this very desirable improvement, they 
resolved unanimously to embrace something, or any thing 
else, which appeared to furnish an adequate remedy for the 
prevailing evils, inequalities, and discords of the world. And 
as to their religious system, national government, municipal 

laws, &c, I do not see how Dr. B . can consistently and 

conscientiously object ; because Joseph Smith endeavored to 
imitate, so far as it was possible and locally convenient, the 
political peculiarities and character of Moses, and the more 
prominent habits and military methods of the religious chief- 
tain, Joshua.* It was affirmed that Shelley, the great and gift- 
ed bard, " having worked himself into Atheism," still could 
not live happily without the supernatural faith. Hence he 
" peopled the forests, flowers, and trees with mythologic 
beings and beautiful elfs." It is very true, the immortal 
Shelley had too great and cultivated a soul to permit him to 
believe in the cruel and capricious God generally worshiped 

* For further analogies, see the Great Ilarmonia, Vol. III., soon to be issued. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 47 

by the Bible Christians. The love of liberty and humanity, 
combined with a sacred appreciation of the advantages of 
Reason, as man's highest blessing, compelled Shelley to 
dread the time and land "where kings first leagued against 
the rights of man, and priests first traded with the name of 
God." And he had the good fortune to become skeptical in 
the*God of priests; because he well knew that "human 
pride is skillful to invent the most serious names to hide its 
ignorance." Nevertheless, the poet did desire, as every 
enlightened mind must, some better and more harmonious 
faith than he could find in the theological world about him, 
— something more congenial with his cultivated affections 
and consonant with his best reason, — and, had he known 
the Harmonial Philosophy of Nature and Spirituality, it is 
very probable, nay it is almost certain, that he would have 
joyfully accepted it ; because, — yea, because, — -it is so en- 
tirely divested of every thing which is uselessly mysterious 
and supernatural, and because, also, it addresses the culti- 
vated heart through the expanded understanding. 

Thus far, then, the alledged evidences of man's " desires 
for a faith in the supernatural" are unsound and fallacious. 

But I think it must have surprised his intelligent hearers, 
when the Lecturer appealed to the serial creation of vege- 
tables and animals as an " evidence of the action of the 
supernatural system upon the world." And in this connec- 
tion Dr. B . seemed to reject the whole doctrine of pro- 
gressive development in the great operations and creations of 
Nature, by alluding to the discovery of the fossil remains of 
a perfectly vertebrated fish in one of the lower stratifications 
of rock. Here the Lecturer also alluded to the want of im- 
provement in the system of nursing the young ; and asserted 
that the plan was more perfect, if any thing, in the salmon, 
which protects its young from the liquid element, during the 
first week of its existence, by a soft gelatinous envelopment, 



48 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

than in the so-called higher animals, including the helpless 
offspring of man. All this was evidently adduced to confuse 
the order of progression in the development of animals. 
Indeed, the confusion would be exceedingly difficult to over- 
come and controvert, were it not for the important fact that 
no such confusion exists. 

Dr. B— — . set aside the "Vestiges of Creation," and all 
similar productions on Geology, by informing his audience 
that he was perfectly aware of the existence of such a work, 
and feebler attempts at rationalistic speculation. Will the 
young, vigorous minds of his congregation receive this as a 
conclusive argument against the progressive theory ? Will 
they henceforth receive the supernaturalistic theory as 
proved to a demonstration ? The Doctor disposed of the 
progressive theory in a most summary and gladiatorial 
manner, and then recommended his hearers to read Hugh 
Miller's recent work, entitled the " Footprints of the 
Creator." This work is not at all accepted by those who 
know any thing of practical geology. For it is merely a 
plea of the clergyman in behalf of his theological faith; an 
instance of hereditary or eruditional faith employing reason 
to act as an advocate and special partisan. 

I have affirmed that no confusion exists in the order of 
creation. True, by the merest accident, a tree may fall 
from the hill-top to the valley, and be found centuries after- 
ward, standing in an inverted position, buried in many feet 
of stratified earth. But does that circumstance prove that 
trees do not grow from the root upward ? So also, suppose 
a fish, the creation of a more recent period, should be found 
in the rock-formation of a remoter period : does that simple 
circumstance confuse the universal testimonies of Nature to 
the contrary? Among all enlightened people, where all 
jurisprudential proceedings are conducted upon the estab- 
lished fact that everv case has two sides, and that verdicts 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 49 

are to be rendered in accordance with the preponderating 

evidence, I can not but believe that Dr. B 's method of 

demonstrating supernaturalism must be peremptorily repudi- 
ated. He brings up the fossil remains of a single fish, to prove 
that all the uniform testimonies of Nature, in favor of pro- 
gression, are doubtful or valueless. And then, having given 
himself the "benefit of the doubt," he turns the case over 
to supernaturalism ; and proceeds to give the impression 
that the fish could not have been placed in its stony prison, 
except by the supernatural system of God operating upon 
the system of Nature ! But I have tried to discover the 
location of that fish-skeleton, and I do not find such a fact in 
Nature, although it is mentioned in the works of three or 
four authors who have endeavored to throw doubt and dis- 
cord over the philosophy of progressive development. The 
supernaturalist should be exceedingly careful in the selection 
of his evidences ; because, not being a practical geologist 
himself, he might very easily be imposed upon by so-called 
facts, which may have no other foundation than the prejudice 
and conservatism of theologians. 

But what shall we say about the nursing ? Why, simply 
this : that it is not true that the plan does not advance with 
the progression of the species. Every advancement in the 
organization of animals — especially the mammalial types^ — is 
attended with a corresponding improvement in the care of the 
young. The more intelligent the animal, the less is the sys- 
tem of nursing a matter of mechanism and instinct. The 
Salmon is provided with a natural cradle for its young, be- 
cause it has not the intelligence to make one. The Kangaroo 
is provided with a pouch in which to carry its young, be- 
cause it has not the intelligence to manufacture blankets and 
garments to protect the young body from the atmosphere. 

Now, will Dr. B . affirm the human offspring to be less 

cared for than these lower organisms, because merely the 

4 



50 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

human mother is not provided with those imperfect and cum- 
brous appendages ? Surely, the plan of nursing the young is 
more and more perfected as creation advances from the lowest 
saurian to the human type. To affirm contrary to this, is to 
impeach the plainest declarations of the universal system. 

Thus again, Dr. B 's evidences of supernaturalism in 

nature, are shown to be groundless. 

But what shall we say about the "acorn" which develops the 
stalwart oak ? The Lecturer seemed to regard the growth 
of trees as accomplished by supernatural action ! He said 
you might plunge a knife into the acorn, and examine it in 
various ways, still it is nothing but a plain nodule. That is 
to say, it is a thing in nature. But place that nodule in the 
earth, and soon it comes forth, adding length after length of 
wood ; and, while the seasons come and depart, this tree 
stands up in defiance of the laws of gravitation and chemistry. 

I think Dr. B -. was very obscure in what he said of this 

oak. This obscurity may be regarded, like a bad hand- 
writing, as evidence of scholarship, but it certainly is no indi- 
cation of clear-thinking or that the individual is naturally 
and properly a teacher. 

If I have exhumed the meaning of the lecturer on this point, 
it signifies this — viz. : that the Acorn derived its potency, to 
build the ponderous oak, from the supernatural system of 
God. That the oak was the type of other and higher mira- 
cles ; the prophecy of more spiritual demonstrations of super- 
naturalism. Now if this reasoning be correct, there can not 
possibly be any uniform law or rationalistic explanation in na- 
ture to account for the production of trees. But what are the 
facts ? Why, the growth of trees is a chemical phenomenon. 
Chemistry has revealed the existence of an invariable Power 
in nature which promotes union between Elements and Com- 
pounds, even though their apparent natures be strongly op- 
posed. This power is termed " chemical attraction :" but 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 51 

can see no reason why it should not be called the unchange- 
able will of God operating in nature, like the flowing of blood in 
the human body, an eternal attribute of the one indissoluble 
system. The acorn, or nodule, would not produce an oak, 
if, instead of placing it in the earth, you should drop it in the 
water or among stones. There is nothing supernatural in the 
manifestation. Because the growth of trees depends upon 
certain favorable external conditions ; whilst, if that result 
was ever accomplished by the direct action of God on the 
world, we should see some variation from the established laws. 

Dr. B . almost ridiculed the idea, that Nature by itself 

could develop organism endowed with motion, life, sensation, 
&c. ; but does he not know that flour, damped with a little 
water, will, in a few days or even hours, be transformed into 
moving, living, feeling organisms ? Does he not know that 
certain kinds of decomposed vegetation in stagnant water, will, 
if partially exposed to the sun, develop worms, lizards, and frogs 
incipiently — all, endowed with motion, life, and sensation ? If 
the Lecturer admits this, but attributes the process of or- 
ganization to supernatural action upon nature, then he vir- 
tually acknowledges that Omnipotence is itself subjected to 
man's power ; because man can arrange the materials to pro- 
duce these animals, or prevent the phenomena altogether by 
cleanliness and civilization. And man can develop rye from 
oats ; or oak trees from a combination of chestnut, pine, and 
walnut. If oats are cast in the ground at the proper season, 
and kept mowed down during the summer and autumnal 
months, and allowed to remain undisturbed till the succeed- 
ing spring, the oats will completely disappear, and a moderate 
growth of rye will appear at the close of the following sum- 
mer. Thus, it is by no means safe for Dr. B . to set 

bounds to the achievements of chemistry. As a science, it 
is yet in its infancy. But whether by its aid, man will in the 
future, he able or not to combine Elements and Compounds 



52 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

so as to develop a wolf, a fox, or a lion, if he desires it, is a 
question which time and science will answer much better 
than any disciple of oriental dogmas. 

In conclusion, I will direct your attention to a subject upon 

which Dr. B . bestowed the most labor and manifested 

the greatest enthusiasm — i. e., the free agency of the human 
mind. In discussing this matter, in its connections to super- 
naturalism, the Lecturer referred frequently to an imaginary 
portion of his discourse, which he termed "The Argument." 
I say " imaginary," because it was impossible to understand 
what he meant by "the argument," unless we adopt the 
hypothesis that he supposed he had one somewhere in the 
premises. What else he particularly referred to I can not 
discover. 

The primary and scriptural definition of "Nature," be it re- 
membered, was a system of cause and effect — a means, bring- 
ing about ends according to the action of the supernatural 
system upon, or within, its constitution. As nature, how- 
ever, it was to be regarded as & system by itself; possessing 

inherent laws and fixed principles. At this point Dr. B . 

started the subject oifree agency. He said, in substance, that 
if he could bring those inherent laws and principles into sub- 
jection, it would prove that he was independent of nature in 
the same proportion ; and would prove, also, that he was to 
the same degree supernatural and responsible to a supernatural 
government for the right use of his freedom and capabilities, 
He said that nature never told falsehoods ; never con- 
structed pistols and powder ; never loaded these weapons and 
shot men ; but he could obtain powder, put it in a pistol and 
shoot his neighbor, and be hung for it. Whereas, he said, 
if the Rationalistic doctrine of cause and effect be true, the 
powder was as much to blame for the murder as he — inas- 
much as, according to this naturalistic doctrine, he was 
merely acting as an effect ; or from the strongest cause 01 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 53 

impulse of his organization. Dr. B . concluded that man 

was perfectly free in the volition of his consciousness — and 
supernatural in his supremacy to nature ; and therefore ac- 
countable to, and dependent upon, the supernatural kingdom 
of God for his actions and ultimate redemption from sin. 

Now let us see into this. Dr. B . asserts that he can 

procure powder, load a pistol, and shoot his neighbor — proving 
thereby that he is morally/ree, and superior to nature ; because 
he can do what nature can not. Nature by the way, even 
when considered in her lowest departments, does manufacture 
powder, or explosive compositions, and nature does shoot and 
kill human beings by her coal mines and volcanic eruptions. 
And it is true, that the stones, trees, and inferior animals of 
nature do not build ships, &c. ; but when the system of crea- 
tion has progressed to the human species, developing thereby 
new wants and powers, then nature, through the organiza- 
tion of man, does build houses and ships, and unfolds results 
through the higher instrumentalities of the human intellect. 

By what Dr. B . says of personal freedom, he displays 

almost unpardonable ignorance of the construction and 
nature of the human mind, and seems to entertain the most 
confused and contracted view of the relationship and har- 
monious dependencies of things. When the Lecturer viewed 
himself as connected with the universe of God by a chain of 
causes and effects, and supposed himself to be let doion " into 
a well" where he could touch nothing but " the link just 
above," what a sense of loneliness and abhorrence did he 
manifest ! But I know of nothing in Rationalism so-called to 
which this graphic comparison is at all applicable ; although, 
when I think of popular theology, with its mechanism of in- 
tercession and redemption, I realize something analogous to 
Dr. B 's description of his own sensations. 

Rationalism, or Harmonial spiritualism, sees Man as a mi- 
crocosm — as a miniature universe ; being perpetually visited 



54 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

by innumerable friends from the four quarters of the firma- 
ment. Man is not compelled to touch merely the next link 
above ; but, being constitutionally the head of Creation, he 
can enjoy the countless relationships which exist, most inti- 
mately, between him and external nature ; between him 
and the spiritual universe ! He thinks he is supernatural, 
and perfectly free, because he can raise a book and overcome 
the law of gravitation. This he thinks nature can not do, 
because it is bound by the inexorable principles of cause and 

effect. Dr. B . should remember that a tornado can 

also overcome the law of gravitation accompanied with ter- 
rible manifestations of its power ; not only by raising the 
book, but by raising fifty men— -filled with free agency — 
at the same time ! But Dr. B . informed his congrega- 
tion, repeatedly, that he was a man — a FREE man— a man 
that could shoot his neighbor — could do, in a word, any thing 
he pleased. Now, believing him to be a man of unimpeach- 
able veracity, I would solicit a few practical illustrations of 
his perfect freedom of Will. Will he answer these questions ? 

Could he, by the exercise of his personal freedom, procure 
powder and pistols if these things were not yet invented ? 

Can he control, by his will, the conditions of mind known 
as belief and disbelief? or, the states known as love and hate ? 

Can he voluntarily hate his best neighbor ? Or, can he for 
ten minutes love affectionately a person, or a thing, which is 
revolting to his whole soul ? 

Can he, by the exercise of his personal freedom, disbelieve 
in the existence of a Supreme Being ? Or, believe it at will ? 

If the Lecturer can not do these things at the instigation 
of his will, then he is in bondage to the system of terrestrial 
cause and effect. How does he know that there are objects, 
lights, shades and colors in nature ? I answer, that he knows 
these things, through the medium of bodily vision ; with- 
out which organs, in spite of all his personal freedom, he 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 55 

would have in his possession no certain knowledge of them. 
So, too, is he absolutely dependent upon his bodily hearing to 
learn ideas of sound ; upon his limbs for locomotion ; upon 
the cheerful action of his tongue to communicate his ideas to 
the people. If his tongue were paralyzed — his arms amputated 
— his eyes deprived of their appropriate functions — and his 
brain loaded with blood : how impotent would be his will 
should he then desire to shoot his neighbor, preach to his con- 
gregation, or impart his thoughts by wielding the pen ! If 

Dr. B . can not do everything which he may desire, simply 

by willing to do so, — -a man who fell and declared himself so 
superior to all "cause and effect," — then I do not see how he 
can escape the Rationalistic theory, that all things are bound 
together in the Universal Spirit of God—" in whom," accord- 
ing to his original text, " all things consist." 

How depressing, and how unlike an impartial investigator, 
was the attempt to ridicule the great Bible-doctrine that God 
is " without variableness neither shadow of turning." The 
Dr. seemed to have forgotten that this opinion was entertained 
by the Bible-authors, and hence ridiculed it as a Rationalistic 
Theory. Instead of saying that the Lord " made the heavens 
and the earth, and all that in them is in six days," and de- 
voted the seventh to rest (as the Bible expresses it,) he ridi- 
culed it, as a naturalistic notion, that God, as a mechanic, had 
"made and perfected his Machine a long period since, and was 
now engaged in turning the crank !" Why Dr. B . ridi- 
cules Bible-doctrines under the title of Rationalistic Theories, 
is a difficult question to solve ; unless we charitably conclude 
that he has not familiarized his mind with the opinions of his 
antagonists. He thought the idea degrading and abhorrent, 
that the Lord should have perfected the vast machine of 
heaven and earth, and pronounced it "good," a longtime 
ago, and had nothing to expect outside of its action ! 

Surely Dr. B . does not understand the Rationalistic 



56 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

theory ; which teaches that God is constantly improving and 
advancing nature. If the object is to dethrone rationalism, 
why does not the Lecturer state its doctrines, and then pro- 
ceed in a dignified manner to expose their fallacy ? To assert 
that modern philosophers believe, that the Deity perfected 
his machine centuries ago, and then assign to the Creator the 
duty of turning the crank, is all a false and ignoble represen- 
tation. This is the doctrine inculcated in Genesis, but is 
vastly unlike the rationalistic theory. 

The Harmonial Philosophy teaches that Progress is a Law 
of Deity ; that nature is the receptacle of the Spirit of 
God ; that every thing is perpetually advancing from bad to 
better — from matter to mind, from earth to heaven ; that 
u the machine" can never be perfected — that the Deity can 
not be " turning a crank ;" because he is the great Positive 
Mind, enlivening and controlling the material and spiritual 
universe, with an unerring and unchangeable government. 

Dr. B . thought that, should he wish to address the 

Deity, through love and gratitude, according to rationalism, 
he should be regarded by the Creator as giving expression 
merely to the emotions natural to his organization — a conse- 
quence of the machine, like an island thrown up by volcanic 
action from the sea. In this view, he thought a man might 
as well be something else ; and Kossuth, so far as responsi- 
bility is concerned, might as well be smoke curling from the 
chimney-top ! Now I am impressed to object to sueh unfair- 
ness and inconsistency — it should not emanate from a rea- 
sonable mind — especially not, from one who is somewhat 
disposed to be a Martin Luther in theology. 

Dr. B . ridicules this system of cause and effect — of 

praying and being righteous on the ground of personal organi- 
zation — and yet, he is an advocate for schools, colleges-, 
churches, and systems of education. He thinks well of tem- 
perance societies, &c. But wherefore ? Because these insti- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 57 

tutions influence the human mind to goodness. Because good 
morals depend upon good influences and upon good systems of 
education. Because, in a word, the human mind, like the 
softened clay, can be fashioned and molded into any shape, 
by the action of external causes upon it. Thus, while he 
would, as a Christian scholar, theologically repudiate the doc- 
trine of cause and effect as applicable to man, he at the same 
time virtually acts upon it in his daily existence and profes- 
sions. In closing, I will merely remark, that this doctrine of 

human freedom is the pivot, upon which Dr. B 's whole 

philosophy of the Incarnation and Redemption depends. 
This made him sarcastic in his criticisms, and impatient in 
his utterance. But he has not yet answered all the objections 
which can be urged against his doctrine ; nor manifested any 
ability to make his propositions invulnerable. The latter, 
being an impossibility, he can not be expected to do. His 
definition of nature and super-nature, is not to be ad- 
mitted ; because he has not given us the least evidence why 
such a definition should be accepted as resting in truth. 
And his statement of the extent of nature, is too narrow to 
answer the conceptions of rationalists, who believe Nature 
to be the external Revelation of God — immeasurable, infinite, 
eternal. In a word, his theological opinions are cramping 
and trammeling his own mind, as they have, in other forms 
and modifications, enslaved hundreds of thousands ; and 
which have prevented the introduction of those more refor- 
matory theories, that lie at the very foundation of Christianity 
and promote the highest civilization. 



THIRD REVIEW. 



Last Sabbath evening, Dr. Bushnell delivered his third 
discourse upon the Supernaturalistic system of religion. It 
seems that he has forgotten or neglected to achieve the 
promised " reconciliation" between the naturalistic and the 
unnaturalistic forms of faith; and, abandoning considerably the 
philosophical ground, has proceeded in the old familiar work 
of constructing a theological fabric or system in which to en- 
shrine /k's scholastic notions of religion and revamped theology. 
Conservatism, therefore, of the unprogressive and unrighteous 
kind, will probably be, or appear to be, promoted to a higher 
throne in the kingdom of dogmatism, and receive another 
coronation as the Emperor of Antiquity and the changeless 
friend of Oriental Doctrines. 

The Lecturer, as you doubtless remember, found a sugges- 
tive title to his discourse in the sixth chapter of Isaiah, fifth 
verse, in these words — " The Lord of Hosts," — a form of 
expression very frequently employed by all those who were 
converted from paganism, or polytheism, to a belief in mono- 
theism and in the Hebrew God. 

In his previous lecture, it will be recollected, Dr. B . 

acknowledged, that his " future arguments" could not be fully 
appreciated, unless his "definition" of Nature and Super- 
nature was understood and accepted by his hearers. He 
therefore expressed the definition, and proceeded to build his 
house of theologic thought accordingly. 

For two reasons, I am impressed to regard this method as 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 59 

quite unrighteous and positively antagonistic to the cause of 
progressive Truth, First, because he introduces, and adopts 
his pre-arranged definition without in the least consulting or 
explaining the Rationalistic positions and definitions on the 
same head. Secondly, because he proceeds to argue, and to 
build upon, his own theological assumptions and foundation 
without demonstrating the said ground-plan to be the only 
reasonable and consistent one possible for the human mind to 
conceive and adopt. 

It is very true, that Dr. B . did present what he sup- 
posed to be satisfactory and demonstrative evidences of the 
voluntary action of the supernatural system of God upon 
this world of effects and causation. But I have shown, I 
think, that no such evidences really exist. Hence he has 
nothing left but an imaginary or hypothetical formation — 
premises, in other words, which are derived principally from 
scholastic sources of theological speculation, and from certain 
scriptural suggestions. This method, for the reasons already 
stated, will never cure the world of skepticism. The natural 
constitutional instinct or intuition of the soul needs to be ad- 
dressed ; and the Reason-principle must see, and the moral 
sensibilities must feel, the foundations of Truth. 

Of the third discourse, which I am now examining, it may 
be truly said that it manifested considerable scholastic skill 
and power of intellectual conception. It contained several 
interesting and well-elaborated passages ; indicated the exist- 
ence of a subdued veneration in the producing mind ; but it 
was no less free from the unskillful ridicule and unnecessary 
sarcasm which characterized the preceding lectures. There 
are times and places, undoubtedly, when a moderate expres- 
sion of satirical thoughts may work a better temporary result 
than the soberness of common conversation or description. 
But in a philosophical dissertation, it seems to me that ridi- 
cule and sarcasm should not be permitted to appear, especially 



60 THE APPROACHING CJILSJS. 

when and where pure and honest arguments are pre-emi- 
nently required, and earnestly sought by truthful minds. 
The latter alone constitute the moral and intellectual pabu- 
lum of truth-loving and reasonable persons. 

Let us return to the text. The expression — " Lord of 
Hosts" — was understood to mean something more than the 
God or Spirit of Nature. It referred, it was asserted, to the 
supernatural system. It referred to a spiritual realm ; where 
" exist kingdoms, and thrones, and powers, and principali- 
ties ;" where there are every possible degree of spiritual life, 
and every conceivable shade of angelic and phase of seraphic 
existence. This realm was described at considerable length, 
by the Lecturer, in contradistinction to the fixed and immuta- 
ble System of Nature visible about us ; as the vast world, in 
short, where alone we are certain to find the throne and su- 
pernatural or moral government of God. 

Now I am moved to inquire : How does Dr. B . know 

that there is any such a realm as he described, in the uni- 
verse ? Has he seen through the dark and shadowy valley 
of death? Has a ray of immortal light, from the supernat- 
ural sphere, descended and awakened his interior under- 
standing ? Or, has some enlightened dweller of the spiritual 
realm approached him in the midnight hour ? Did it open 
his blinded heart ? Did it lead him out beyond the changing 
earth, and point upward to the eternal Mind, that taketh 
knowledge of the falling sparrow and lights the illimitable 
universe with a kindling glory ? If so ; why does he not 
confess, that, like a new-born man into whose nostrils has 
just been breathed the breath of a higher life, he utters his 
convictions of the supernatural ? If not ; then how does he 
know, how can he be certain, that any such a spiritual do- 
minion exists as he described in his last discourse ? Or, has 
he studied the universal laws of analogy, and the principles 
of correspondence ? Does he base his conclusions upon the 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 61 

psychological laws and constitution of man— Hipon the spirit- 
ual manifestations of this century ? In a word, has he any 
new and reliable light by which to see the truths and princi- 
palities, the thrones and powers, of the celestial realm ? 

The negative reply is too distinct. He has received no 
fresh inspiration, but takes the old and superannuated Hebrew 
expression as authoritatively suggestive of the supernatural 
system ; and then, amplifies the idea by using the speculative 
language of Paul concerning thrones, dominions, powers, and 
principalities ; which, if the apostle ever beheld, he must 
necessarily have seen by the exercise of the same identical 
mental power of clear vision, which is denominated clairvoy- 
ance by modern investigators. Dr. B . is manifestly 

seeing through the eyes and thoughts of ancient minds. He 
does not put sufficient trust in the " ten talents" which he, in 
common with all the earth's inhabitants, has inherited from 
the heavenly Father. He too plainly inters his capabilities 
within the sacerdotal tombs of antiquity. Scholastic educa- 
tion, which is another term for learned ignorance, has presided 
over the funeral, and now prevents a healthy resurrection. 

Before inspecting the very few points contained in the dis- 
course referred to, I will briefly direct your attention to the fact, 
that the ancient Hebrew conception of the " Lord of Hosts" 
is low and cramping to the benevolence and republican sen- 
timents of the generous mind — especially, when practically 
believed. The Jewish God is cruel, capricious and tyranni- 
cal. His kingdom is more despotic, and more contracted in 
principle, than the present government of the Russian Em- 
pire. The earth's inhabitants, yj\io first conceived of such a 
supernatural being, could not have obtained or entertained 
higher views of a Chief Ruler and directing power. Because 
they were living in the midst of Kings and Empires. Isaiah 
could only expand upon the idea of an earthly king, and upon 
a terrestrial empire ; though he freed his conception as far as 



62 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

possible of all the iniquities and unrighteousness, which per- 
tained to earthly rulers and political governments about him. 
And so did all the Hebrews who were converted from the 
pagan sects. The birds do not more naturally build their 
nests, or the mole dig into the ground, than does the human 
mind, in its unprogressed and unspiritual states, conceive of 
a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords, as residing in the 
mystical or unseen sphere. The Indian has a sachem ; the 
patriach an omniarch ; the Hebrew King a Lord of Hosts ; 
the child-like mind a Heavenly Father. Now, according to 
my impressions and the testimony of history, the Old Testa- 
ment idea of a Deity is the out-growth of the despotic stage 
of human mental development. It is the best idea which 
could in those times have been entertained ! and I am, with 
you, my friends, exceedingly disappointed that, in a philo- 
sophico-theological discourse of to-day, this superannuated 
monotheistic conception should be appealed to as a living 
Truth. 

If there be in reality a "spiritual realm," — not existing 
upon the reciprocal principles of cause and effect, in which 
resides the " Lord of Hosts" with a system of government en- 
tirely different from the system of nature,-- then it is time, it 
seems to me, that the earth's inhabitants should receive some 
substantial and unequivocal demonstration to that effect. 
That there is a Spiritual Universe co-eternal and co-exten- 
sive with the material universe, which the finite mind can 
measure or comprehend, — the two systems being inwrought 
and interblended perfectly, and universally harmonious, too, 
in their essential natures and governments, — is a truth, which 
has been fully and satisfactorily demonstrated to the earth- 
people in various ways since the world began. This is the 
sacred conviction of the most enlightened rationalists. It is 
evidenced in the psychological laws of mind ; in the laws of 
universal analogy ; in the spiritual disclosures of the present 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 63 

century ; and, more particularly, in all the higher sciences 
and discoveries of modern times. Every thing evidently is 
conspiring to a single point, — to demonstrate, as it were, one 
infinite truth, — viz. : the stupendous oneness and harmonies of 
the entire universe ! The best minds of the age begin to 
see and acknowledge that there can not possibly exist two 
independent and antagonistic systems of truth in one uni- 
verse. But that harmony must reign co-equal and co-essen- 
tial with the great all-animating principle, which is Deity. 

My impression distinctly is, that Dr. B -.would be less 

unfavorably inclined toward harmonial Rationalism, if his 
judgment was better acquainted with its fundamental posi- 
tions and elevating teachings. His last lecture contained a 
few points of difference ; but there was more antagonism, or 
positive conflict, in the terms employed than in the ideas, 
Indeed, the most of it was a species of literary bombardment 
— a war of words — requiring, merely, an honest and dispas 
sionate comparison of ideas to soothe and restore every an 
tagonistic feeling to peace. For example : the idea of 
human progression throughout the spiritual universe was 
clearly enough set forth in the words — " thrones, dominions, 
powers, and principalities," — which correspond, measurably, 
to the different shades and degrees of circles, societies, &c, 
which the Harmonial Philosophy contemplates in the spirally 
ascending spheres of the spiritual universe. Again : the 
Lecturer's assertion, that all spirits, and angels, and seraphs 
were once subjected to the discipline, trials, temptations, 
and vicissitudes of the material world, is perfectly in accord- 
ance with the Rationalistic theory on that head. Hence, I 
repeat, that the pending war is, in several respects, altogether 
confined to language, which a little calm investigation on the 
Lecturer's part would soon change to the furtherance of truth 
and religious reformation. 

Dr. B . declared his third lecture to be merely "inter- 



G4 THE APPROACHING CRT SIS. 

posed/' to bridge the channel between his previous definitions 
of nature and super-nature — to amplify and describe, in other 
words, the vast dominion of the spiritual realm, and consider 
it in relation to external nature and to man. It was very 
plain that he was laboring to open a place to be hereafter 
filled by the supernatural system of redemption. He labored 
to harmonize his scholastic education and religious convic- 
tions with the known laws and constitution of nature. But 
he could not and can not succeed ; for it is only the truth 
that can be made to appear harmonious and consistent. 

It is now my impression to examine Dr. B 's classifica- 
tion of what he termed — " Things and Powers." 

It was asserted that " things" are created absolutely perfect 
at once ; that they are incapable of further improvement or 
alteration ; and are bound together by the fixed laws of 
cause and effect. " Powers," on the contrary, are created 
with self-subsisting and self-directing force, — susceptible to 
eternal change and advancement ; and confined to the action 
of no laws in particular, but responsible alone to the super- 
natural government and moral system of God. " Things are 
under law ; powers are above law." " Things belong to 
nature ; powers, to the spiritual realm." " Things are in 
bondage to the system of nature ; powers, are self-determin- 
ing and free agents." The foregoing are substantially the 

positions assumed by Dr. B . But how obscure is all 

this ! How unlike the universal testimonies of creation ! 

Where is the line of demarkation — I ask — between the 
empire of things and the Hosts of powers ? Where do the 
" perfect" and law-serving " things" cease to exist ? And 
where commences the universe of imperfect and disloyal 
" powers ?" Surely, plants and trees can be and are daily 
improved; minerals can be greatly perfected; and brutes 
considerably educated. There is no evidence that a plant is 
more perfect than a man. The one may be a higher devel- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 65 

opment than the other ; but each creation may be perfect of 
its kind — alike, capable of being changed, deformed, or im- 
proved by the energetic play of external circumstances upon 
them. We want, therefore, the plain truth. We demand a 
clear definition of " things and powers," — not a theological 
and romantic classification ; but a psychological, philosophical, 
and rational one, which shall be so truthful and so simple, 
that he who runs may read. 

Dr. B . alluded to his grand and soul-satisfying con- 
ception of the spiritual kingdom, in comparison with the 
simple and low doctrine of rationalism; which teaches that 
all things and powers are subsisting upon, and controlled 
by, the unchangeable laws of cause and effect. Indeed ? 
" Simple !" Does he admire the plain, unadorned teachings 
of Jesus ? Surely, the simplicity of the Christian precepts 
and doctrines constitutes their principal charm and beauty. 
Truth, it appears to me, is always simple. Undeveloped 
minds invariably entertain mysterious and incomprehensible 
notions of almost every thing. But the comprehensive mind 
sees the unity and simplicity of Truth. Manifestly, it is quite 
unrighteous to generate prejudice, in the minds of the people, 
toward a matter of which they have no very definite knowl- 
edge ; by comparisons, which amount in principle to mere ridi- 
cule, as based upon educational pride and repugnance to seeing 
new light in the developments of the current age. It is because 
Rationalism is so self-evident and reasonable that the human 
mind can easily comprehend and love its disclosures. As 
honesty clothes the good man, modesty the virtuous, and 
meekness the man of wisdom ; so is truth robed in simplicity ; 
and, like the shining sun, its rays dissolve the mysterious 
clouds which obscure the heavens from our vision, and by its 
power the unity of the whole is distinctly revealed. 

Evidently, Dr. B 's definition of things and powers was 

derived from the Bible and from his own mental abstractions. 

5 



66 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

Had he contemplated the vast panorama of external nature ; 
and then turned his eye in upon himself, and upon the psy- 
chological constitution of man ; he would have obtained more 
truth and a better definition. As the matter now stands, I 
have nothing to comment upon in this department of his 
discourse. The classification of "things and powers" was 
wholly fictitious, and superinduced, in order to fix a founda- 
tion upon which to rest the doctrine of absolute " free agency" 
and the scriptural or supernatural system of redemption. As 
he did not appeal to nature and to human experience to sup- 
port his definition, I, therefore, have nothing to examine or 
to analyze ; because, I repeat, the whole matter was con- 
ceived and procreated in the fertile womb of superstition. 

Again : Dr. B . revived the question of free agency. He 

asserted that all created "powers" are endowed with the ability 
to act from choice, consent, or will ; and then proceeded to 
consider the various spiritual relations which are supposed 
to subsist between man and the Lord of Hosts. He thought 
man's will-power was perfectly unrestrained ; and nothing 
was permitted to prevent the "powers" from exercising their 
freedom, and receiving the consequences thereof, both here 
and hereafter. He thought a different view — the Rational- 
istic doctrine of universal dependencies and sympathetic re- 
lationships — would convert society, government, all laws, 
penalties, benefits, and the marriage relation, into unmeaning 
institutions. He said that these institutions were con 
structed on the universally admitted fact of man's moral free- 
dom. And yet, Dr. B . conceived the divine government 

to be acting just above the will. The Divine Will, with its 
inexorable principles of justice, " overlaid" the mental fac- 
ulties of choice ; and thus the Lecturer introduced or created 
a demand for the medicine of "redemption" as a remedy for 
the soul's voluntary sins and iniquity. 

In this elaborating conception, it must be acknowledged, 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 67 

Dr. B . manifested some originality of thought. Indeed, he 

exceeded the wisdom and assumptions of the Bible on this 
subject ; and may, therefore, henceforth be denominated an 
" infidel" — at least to the views of the timid, good, and rigid 
orthodox members of the Connecticut Association. As the 
question of man's freedom was the principal point of his last 
discourse, I will proceed presently to briefly consider it. 

I come now to another point — viz. : the Lecturer's idea of 
the origin of evil. It should, however, be constantly remem- 
bered that Dr. B . did not begin his inquiries in a state of 

mental freedom. This fact obscured his intellectual vision ; 
and caused him to give a false coloring to nearly all the thoughts 
he presented. He is trammeled, according to my impression ; 
like an artist whose mind can not operate independently of 
the "Old Masters." He does not start on his voyage of dis- 
covery like the intrepid Columbus, seeking truth only, in some 
heretofore undiscovered continent. Far from it. He sets 
out, like an engaged attorney, to argue the partial and par- 
ticular case of his client. He must not see truth on the oppo- 
site side. He does not set forth with the noble resolution to 
follow truth wherever it may lead. But he has two things to 
accomplish — first, to find a place for a supernatural system, 
which he determines shall have a place somewhere : sec- 
ondly, he must and will discover an intellectual method 
whereby to reconcile the plan of Christian redemption with 
personal wants, with the logical deductions, and sinful condi- 
tion of the race, of man. That is to say, he will argue his 
side of the question exclusively as the side of truth. He must, 
therefore — in order to be judiciously Conservative, and suffi- 
ciently orthodox to pass current among the people — paint and 
tint his pictures in accordance with the great general plan 
pursued by the old theological writers and masters. This, 
alas, is not particularly and exclusively his besetting sin. 
The majority of men are thus sinful. 



08 THE APF-ROACHING CRISIS. 

The Lecturer's philosophical idea of the origin of sin was 
truly a supernatural, or rather an unnatural, conception. He 
seemed to think that there was no particular danger in 
creating "things;" but that the creation of "powers" was 
attended with the awful " possibility of evil ;" that sin was a 
necessary concomitant of this branch of God's creation ! In- 
deed, he thought that Omnipotence itself was "environed 
by the possibility of evil" before the world began ; and that, 
the divine Mind could not have created free moral agents or 
" independent powers" without bringing into existence, or 
without being under the necessity of tolerating, the blight 
known as sin. Sin, it was asserted, is a necessary, or rather 
a "possible," consequence of such creations as men, spirits, 
angels, and seraphs. Thus, sin or evil is supernaturally de- 
rived and originated ! Hence, it requires a supernaturally 
instituted plan to overcome the consequences of sin ; and also 
to neutralize, as far as the system of " free moral" creations 
will permit, the terrible "possibility of evil" which environed 
the Divine Being even before the creation of the world. 
Here, then, in the most scriptural and ingenious manner, Dr. 
B . opened a place in the affairs of men for the introduc- 
tion, and for the indispensability, of the Christian plan of re- 
demption. He derived all his fundamental suggestions from 
the Bible ; but it is most evident, that in the subsequent con- 
ception and elaboration of this redemptional scheme, the 
Lecturer again out-generaled the wisdom of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures. The Bible does not so clearly assert, that God was 
ever environed by the possibility of evil in creating man. 
Nor that sin is supernatural — except, so far as Adam's trans- 
gression was a violation of an eternal command or law, to 
which was mysteriously attached eternal penalties. And 
even this doctrine of evil is principally the work of clergy- 
men, as I shall demonstrate in the sequel. The Bible fur- 
nishes mythologic suggestions ; and, then, the professional 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 69 

preacher — the "D. D." — that is, the man who doctors di- 
vinity — takes up "the wondrous tale," and skillfully manu- 
factures or compounds a system of sin, a system of redemp- 
tion, and the absolute necessity for a systematic and regularly 
organized priesthood, in order to guide mankind from hell to 
the state of heaven. How much better would an organization 
of all kinds of industry be for the world ! 

But let us think of the idea. If God was under the neces- 
sity of making free powers, or human beings, at a tremendous 
risk of involving his moral universe in interminable trouble — 
if he could not have created man without being " environed 
with the possibility of evil" — then, I inquire, where is the 
alledged Omnipotence of Jehovah ? 

Or, if he could have made man, and could have prohibited 
even the "possibility" of sin, had he desired it — then, I in- 
quire, where is the unutterable Goodness of Jehovah ? 

Or, if he would have made man invulnerable to evil, had 
there been any possibility of so doing, consistently and com- 
patibly with the moral state of free agency — then, I ask, 
where is the wisdom or the eternal and universal Omniscience 
of Jehovah ? 

You may say that I have no right to. question the Creator's 
wisdom or designs on these points ; but should accept what- 
ever he has done as the very perfection of wisdom and equity. 
Nay, not so. Because I am, in common with all my earthly 
brethren, made with the faculties for seeking and finding. I 
have reasons for believing, that, by asking for truth, I shall 
find it in due time. Besides, I am truly impressed that the. 
Bible is a compilation of the thoughts, traditions, and opinions 
of imperfect and fallible men. The doctrine of sin, and the 
system of redemption, as conceived and elaborated by Dr. 

B ., was developed, not with the real Lord of Hosts, not 

with the real Divine Principle which enlivens and controls 
this immeasurable and harmonious universe ; but I can see 



70 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

by history, and otherwise, that it originated with human 
beings. Hence, I have a right, a heaven-born right, to ques- 
tion the origin and consistency of the scheme ; and to expose 
its horrid and soul-harassing incongruities, too ; because the 
development of republicanism and of mental happiness among 
men, depend, very much, upon the absence of these dogmatic 
compilations or fossil relics of an old Hebrew and Chaldean 
theology. They retard the car of progress ; and trammel 
the higher faculties of thought. I will, therefore, presently 
proceed to explain the true origin and nature of evil. 

But let us now think of demonism. Dr. B ., it seems, 

has ventured to improve, to a considerable extent, upon the 
old Zoroasterian doctrine of a personal devil ; which doctrine 
is frequently alluded to, or quoted, by the evangelists and other 
New Testament writers. He thinks the true idea of a devil 
is the generalization or combination of evil. All sins com- 
bined, organized, and then personified by the term, " Devil/* 
This religious reformation of theology is praiseworthy. It is 

the Rationalistic method. But Dr. B . does not seem 

quite so far advanced as the Persian author of the doctrine 
of a personal devil. Zoroaster said that the devil — called 
Arhiman — would, in the fullness of the dispensations of time, 
be completely transformed and converted, together with all 
his multitudinous subordinates, into perfect friends of the God 
of Goodness, Ormuzd. I think, that, if the Lecturer embraces 
one portion of this doctrine, he certainly should the other. 

In the Scriptures we are told, that if we " knock, it shall 
be opened." All learned divines, so called, concur in the 
opinion, I believe, that this language has an interior, spiritual, 
or correspondential signification of unusual scope and lati- 
tude. It means, evidently, that, whenever and wherever the 
honest and truth-loving mind finds a door, which promises to 
open upon a new territory or region of truth ; it will certainly 
be " opened" unto him, if he will but " knock" thereon, with 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 71 

the simple-mindedness of a child, and with the meekness and 
lucidity of wisdom. But Dr. B — — . declared or affirmed 
that he would never consent to " knock," when he became a 
disembodied spirit ; because, forsooth, it was not sufficiently 
dignified and noble ! When Jesus compelled the devils to 
flee into the herd of swine, it seems that the swine, — belong- 
ing probably to some laboring man, — ran off the precipice 
and were entirely destroyed. Now here was a real and abso- 
lute "destruction of property"— owing, not exclusively to the 
devils, but to the power which caused the devils to accomplish 

the named supernatural result. But Dr. B . thought that 

the devils had " come out" of the swine again, and were 
now-a-days "knocking upon tables, chairs, writing upon 
turnips," &c. ; a matter, exceedingly repulsive to his feelings 
and scholastic notions. He did not, however, undertake to 
deny, that spirits do or can communicate in. various ways 
with the earth's inhabitants. Now, it seems to me, and I 

express it with due deference to him, that Dr. B . would 

be a wiser and happier man, if he possessed more of that 
simple spirit so pre-eminently characteristic of Jesus ; who 
told his followers — " seek and ye shall find : knock and it 
shall be opened unto you." 

It is quite essential, my friends, that we keep definitely in 
our mental view, the precise and avowed object which this 
champion of supernaturalism has energetically set out to ac- 
complish. It may be summed up in the well-known language 
of nearly all Christian scholars — commencing, somewhat con- 
spicuously, with the celebrated Pollok, who, although he did 
not live to execute the extraordinary classical projection ; 
yet conceived "A Review of Literature in all Ages, de- 
signed to show, that literature must stand or fall in pro- 
portion as it harmonizes with Scripture Revelation." Dr. 
B 's present effort is substantially the same in effect; 



72 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

only differently stated and developed. It is still the scho- 
lastic and church idea of " harmonizing Nature with Reve- 
lation" — that is, possibilities with prodigious impossibilities ; 
essential truths with the most overwhelming and mind- 
deforming inconsistences. 

Let us also bear in mind, that the present discussion is not 
pending between two individuals ; whose education and 
opinions chance to be openly manifested and antagonistic. 
It is Humanity and mental Independence against a new form 
of dogmatic Conservatism. The latter has recently obtained 

an utterance through the mind and mouth of Dr. B ; and 

the former, in the capacity of an independent spectator and 
thinker, has appeared in the various criticisms of the reviewer. 
I pray you, therefore, to elevate your thoughts above the 
local imperfections of the mere individuals engaged, to the 
end that you may scan, with a more clear and comprehensive 
vision, the merits and demerits— the proprium ingenium- — of 
the great principles involved and unfolded in the discussion. 

As you probably remember, the theological Luther of to- 
day, in developing his philosophical idea of unphilosophical 
things — I mean, in giving his reasons for the supernatural 
origin of sin and discord—said, that, although he was not de- 
signing, or at liberty, to discuss whether the race began with 
one man or with many types, yet he would take Adam as an 
Illustration. Accordingly, the Jirst man was marshaled out on 
the theological ground ; and then and there was viewed in the 
capacity of a pure, immaculate, but undisciplined and unedu- 
cated mind. " The experiment of life was now to commence." 
Adam was a "free power;" not subject to the reciprocal 
principles of cause and effect ; neither to " mere mechanical 
force," as " things" manifestly are, in the domain of nature. 

He could not have known sin, said Dr. B . ; for he was 

as yet quite inexperienced. Consequently, although the law 
of Right was sounding in his soul with all its original sym- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 73 

phonies ; yet he sinned — transgressed the law of God — and, 
there he stood, looking at himself in the " mirror of the law" 
— descanting on his own moral deformity — " and would not 
even look away," — so conscious was he of blamable wrong. 
Thus, the tremendous " possibility of evil which surrounded 
the Deity in creating the powers," was originated and actual- 
ized, so to express it, on the footstool. This was Dr. B 's 

philosophical explanation of the origin of evil ! 

Disconnected and devoid of pure moral intuition and philo- 
sophy, as this explanation is ; yet there appears enough to show 
the scientific and faithful historian, that the Lecturer listens 
more to the voice of oriental traditions than to the heaven- 
attuned music of immortal Truth. O, that his vision could 
be expanded, from the individual, to a comprehensive idea 
of the solidarity of humanity ! He is painfully distracted by 
the annoyances of isolated thought. The grand soul and 
sources of the human heart are measurably overlooked by 
the habit of gazing too particularly and constantly at minor 
points of character. He may ascend the highest eminence 
to view the surrounding landscape ; but the ineffable beauty 
and towering grandeur of the whole is lost, to the eye that 

sees only spears of grass and points of pins. Dr. B . is a 

man of peculiar genius ; suffering from certain internal fluc- 
tuations of feeling — a conflict, between the vigorous play of 
his moral sensibilities and his intellectual perception of truth 
and reason — causing him to draw a strange line of demarka- 
tion between Nature and Supernature ; and to depreciate hu- 
manity in the honest effort to urge a misinterpreted Christianity 
upon the rationalistic philosopher. Assisted by his genius, he 
occasionally mounts the heights of Thought, and employs a 
grotesque eloquence in speaking of man's strength and willing- 
ness to " pass through burning worlds" to maintain the Law 
of Right ; nevertheless, just when a higher view of humanity 
is about to break forth from the quivering tongue, the eye 



74 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

reverts back to some local annoyance or imperfection arising 
from weak individual man, and, lo ! the sentence is turned to 
a theological saying that " the heart of man is desperately 
wicked, and there is no good in him." Instead of this cir- 
cumscribed estimate, how liberated would the mind become, 
should it believe,' from a comprehensive survey of, and affilia- 
tion with, the whole, that — 

" If rightly trained and bred, 
Humanity is humble, — finds no spot 
Her heaven-guided feet refuse to tread. 1 ' 

On this occasion, I am impressed to examine the church 
or Conservative philosophy of the origin of evil, — with a view 
to show the impossibility of philosophically convicting the race 
of voluntary sin on the Bible basis. 

A question of great magnitude and importance can not be 
analyzed and fully elucidated in a brief discourse. It is not 
only the great general subject itself which requires careful 
dissection and illustration ; but also the particular phases of 
the manifold thoughts that flow up from the principal consid- 
eration as its constitutional constituents. One thing, how- 
ever, is manifestly favorable to a successful explanation, in 
one lecture, of the question before us. I allude to the fact, 
which is a source of no little gratification to me, that I am 
about to address an assemblage of thinking, truth-loving men 
and women, — a class of citizens that have ventured away 
from the old paths in thoughts and creeds. While the 
majority of mankind are wending their way along the shore, 
— fearing to lose sight of the old moorings and landmarks, — 
you put out to sea, taking the compass of Thought to deter- 
mine your latitudes and longitudes, and the North Star as 
the never-varying Truth shining over your pathway ; and, 
like the persevering Columbus, the voyage of discovery, which 
you have thus enterprisingly undertaken, will, while it sub- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 75 

jects you to the various vicissitudes and whirlwinds of 
public opinion, ultimately result in the organization of a 
Spiritual United States — differing as much from the present 
system as the effulgent soul differs from the material body. 

The origin of evil, or sin, is a question that has suggested 
itself to the mind of almost every person. Every body is 
made sensible, from the hour of birth to the moment of 
physical death, of something out of order and out of harmony 
in this world. No one is entirely happy. Disturbances, 
either physical or moral, are experienced by all breathing 
beings, to a greater or less extent. Physical disorders, pains, 
and sickness ; social discords, wars, and inequalities ; mental 
disturbances, anxiety, disappointment, unhappiness, and des- 
pair. These are the prominent symptoms of some chronic 
disease in the world. The question is, How did this disease, 
or these endless symptoms and incongruities, originate ? 
When and where did they begin to be ? This interrogatory 
comes home to every one. The selfish mind wishes to know 
how to escape these discords, from motives of mere personal 
comfort and consideration ; the philanthropist prays to know 
how they originate, in order to apply the appropriate reme- 
dies ; thus, to emancipate mankind from the bondage of 
corruption, and from the dominion of unhappiness and de- 
spair. As I have already said, a question of such magnitude 
and innumerable complications, can not be thoroughly and 
minutely elucidated in one lecture, nor yet in ten carefully 
prepared discourses ; but the generalizations and philosophy 
on this head can be given in a concise form ; with many 
things left for your more private and particular examination. 

The church assumptions, on the primary development of 
evil, are probably familiar to you all. Learned divines — 
erroneously so called — have concentrated their time, capital, 
and talent upon this question. They have laid the founda- 
tion deep in the ignorance of the people ; they have erected 



7ti THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

a mighty sacrium thereon ; and all the theological relics of 
olden times are very carefully labeled, the prices marked up, 
and carefully laid away upon the sacred shelves, — ready for 
purchasers. Evil has received all the honors of deification. 
It has been gazed at by clergymen through the magnifying 
lens of the vicarious atonement ; and, in order to harmonize 
effects with causes — to make the stupendous and so-called 
merciful scheme of Redemption correspond measurably with 
the thing which suggested and required it — they have, with 
much honest motive and inevitable cupidity, promoted sin or 
evil to a high primeval position in the realm of the Godhood 
and the supernatural. The writers of the New Testament 
are not wholly exempt from this charge of the unnatural and 
unrighteous exaggeration of sin. They have made it a 
matter of more importance than the subject properly requires 
or deserves. And the priesthood have followed up the 
method ; they have finally succeeded in wrapping 

" Nonsense 'round 
With pomp and darkness till it seems profound ; 
While reason, like a grave-faced mummy stands, 
With its arms swathed in hieroglyphic bands." 

And now, with the subject or question of evil so entombed 
in theological imaginations and church dogmas, how can we 
divest our minds of the infectious absurdities sufficiently to 
once more dispassionately inquire into, and correctly ascer- 
tain, the origin and nature of discord or sin ? Let us strive 
to do so, and begin by glancing at the Bible doctrine on this 
head. Let us commence at the foundation, with the Mosaic 
account, and see whether clergymen have, or have not, suf- 
ficient ground for their views and hyperbolical representa- 
tions of the " original sin," and its eternal consequences. 

You have all, doubtless, read the relations in Genesis very 
frequently, I am now moved to examine those accounts 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 77 

briefly, for motives soon to be developed. The following 
quotation is derived from the second chapter of Genesis, 
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth verses, as you may see by 
careful reference : 

" Every plant of the field was in the earth, and every 
herb of the field grew ; for the Lord God had not caused it 
to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the 
ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and 
watered the face of the ground. And the Lord God formed 
man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of life ; and man became a living soul. And the 
Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and there he 
put the man whom he had formed." 

Now this account is truly simple — in more significations 
than one. It is not only unartificial and unexaggerated, but 
it is likewise exceedingly deficient in describing the exceeding 
great, momentous, and multiform relations, which are theo- 
logically asserted to have been established between God and 
man at the moment of his creation. It is deficient, I mean, 
only when the church is regarded as correct in its doctrinal 
suppositions. Christian scholars universally agree that sin 
is either a voluntary departure of a free moral agent from a 
recognized principle of rectitude ; or else, a manifest neglect 
to discharge known duties and divine commandments. Sin, 
therefore, when viewed in this light, is certainly a tremen- 
dous reality — a supernatural transaction — the creature 
against the Creator ! If sin is this terrific thing — is the 
peace-destroying and heaven-subverting power which the 
church represents it to be — then, most assuredly, He who 
" made man," or the sinning substance, being All- wise, must 
necessarily have known the unutterable awfulness and the 
prospective endless consequences thereof. 

But let us ask, — Did the Lord God make Adam acquainted 
with the church theory of sin ? Nay. For " the Lord God 



78 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

planted a garden" * * *..'." and took the man and put 
him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." 
From this it appears, that Adam did not commence life a free 
moral agent. His feelings and attractions were not at all 
consulted. The Lord God did not even ask him whether he 
would willingly and voluntarily go into the beautiful Eden ; 
but the Lord "put him in it," as a master would his serf. 
Nor was Adam questioned as to his willingness to choose 
horticulture as an occupation, or to be a gardener ; which 
liberty of choice is alone compatible or reconcilable with the 
church theory of man's moral freedom ; but, on the contrary, 
" the Lord God took the man whom he had formed, and put 
him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." 

We are gradually approaching the origin of evil, as devel- 
oped in Genesis. 

Freedom is not consistent with slavery. A free mind is 
its own commander. Coercion or constraint, of any descrip- 
tion, can not be consonant with the unlimited scope and 
principles of freedom. According to this self-evident con- 
ception or definition of liberty, it appears that man was not 
made in the beginning a free moral agent. The question of 
"free agency" I am not now discussing. lam examining 
the Mosaic account of the original sin, and comparing the 
relation thereof with the church theory ; which holds that 
sin is a willful transgression of divine law — a voluntary 
apostacy of man from the known rules of rectitude or duty. 
Now, I ask, what are the Bible statements on this head ? 
Why, simply, that the Lord God put Adam into the garden, 
and constrained him to labor. Did the Maker consult the 
moral freedom of the creature ? Here is the answer. " The 
Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the 
garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowl- 
edge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it ; for in the day 
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Here is a plain 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 79 

implication, that the Lord God had planted good and evil in 
the world, before the creation of man. This idea was quite 
prevalent in the early stages of the world. Persian and 
Chaldean myths are nearly all based upon this superstitious 
belief. But we let that pass, and inquire : Did the Lord 
treat Adam as a free moral agent ? Was the free-born mind 
consulted as to choice ? Far from it. For " the Lord God 
commanded the man" &c. ; which implies the servitude of the 
creature to the power that formed it ; the power of the pot- 
ter over the moistened clay. 

If sin is the tremendous reality it is alledged to be, and if 
the All-wise Lord had a pre-vision and pre-realization of 
sin's terrific consequences upon man and the world ; why 
did he not describe to Adam, — in characters of fire, and in a 
voice so accordant, full, and penetrating, that nothing could 
ever silence the sound thereof in the soul that once had 
heard it, — the intense and never-ending consequences, the 
discords, the abortions, and eternal agonies, which would in- 
evitably flow from the first transgression ? Instead of this, 
the account says, the Lord simply told Adam, that if he ate 
of " the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," the conse- 
quence would be death. Now this is all very obscure and 
ambiguous. The nature of the tree and the kind of death 
are neither described nor treated with any marked import- 
ance. The tree and the death are left to the fertile imagina- 
tion of commentators and ambitious clergymen. The world 
is to-day replete with sectarian animosities and jargon, 
mainly owing to the ambiguous and unsatisfactory relation 
of this so-called supernatural and infallible account. One 
sect is decided that the "death is spiritual;" another, that 
the apple, or the first sin, introduced " the phenomenon of 
death into the world." Others are very positive, that 
"death, temporal and spiritual" — external and eternal — 
resulted from Adam's voluntary transgression of the divine 



80 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

command. We can, therefore, trace the origin of much 
sectarianism and mental discord to the ignorance of the 
world in regard to this biblical relation. For differences of 
opinion people will sacrifice the friendship of friends, and 
vield themselves to the dominion of local hatreds and cruel 
persecutions — all, because the world does not yet know that 
the Mosaic record of creation is nothing but a compilation 
of Persian and Chaldean cosmological myths and theologic 
speculations. 

Do you ever think, my friends, how replete the Scriptures 
are with absurdities and contradictions ? Your clergyman 
has probably concealed them from the popular gaze, with the 
imposing livery of Dr. Somebody's commentary, and by the 
constant pronunciation of a classical eulogium upon the best 
and brightest truths that decorate the sacred pages. But 
you should look with your own eyes ; and use the talents 
which God has given you. The New Testament exhorts us 
to become " perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. " 
This is a glorious and ennobling motive for spiritual advance- 
ment. I love and accept it as a high exhortation. But do 
you remember what the Lord God is alledged to have said 
after Adam had sinned ? Do you recollect the consequence 
of eating the apple ? " And the Lord God said, Behold, the 
man is become as one of us, to know good and evil ; and 
now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of 
life, and eat, and live forever ; therefore [that is, because 
man had become like the heavenly Sovereigns,] the Lord 
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the 
ground from which he was taken." It seems also that man's 
moral freedom to take hold of the tree of eternal life, was 
peremptorily denied. Now comes the moment for serious, 
fervent inquiry. Did the Lord of Heaven — the Eternal 
Spirit — the Almighty Mind — the God of Truth — act toward 
the first man, and magnanimously consult his mental 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 81 

attractions, as he should have, on the church supposition 
that man is a free, self-determining, and self-acting power ? 
Nay. Man was made without his consent — forced up from 
the quiet solitudes of matter, without having his voluntary 
powers consulted as to the wondrous and hazardous under- 
taking. And when he became a living soul, how unceremo- 
niously and peremptorily v/as he " put into the garden," to 
work it and keep it clean ! It might possibly have been de- 
cided by Adam, had he been properly conferred with prior to 
his earthly existence, that he would not be created at all — 
especially, had he been duly informed by the Lord, as a free 
moral power should have been, of the tremendous "possi- 
bility of evil" which inevitably presided over " the creation 
of powers" from the beginning. Inexpressible thought ! The 
religious world does not — I fear it can not — realize the won- 
drous inconsistencies involved in its cardinal teachings. 

The Lord God, who is believed to be the " beginning and 
the end" of all things — " in whom all things consist" — who, 
being perfectly omniscient, must see all things as and where 
they are, just as and where they are eventually destined to be, 
should, in order to escape the eternal condemnation of being 
unloving and inexpressibly unmerciful, have illuminated 
Adam's mind, before his creation, and acquainted him of the 
eternal evils which would certainly flow from his simple eat- 
ing of the forbidden fruit. According to the popular suppo- 
sition, the creation of Adam was the beginning of an eternity 
of the most dismal evils and of wondrous wretchedness, 
which no man can imagine or pencil illustrate. Surely, the 
omniscient Creator must have known the end from the begin- 
ning. There is no escaping this conclusion. To assert that 
the Lord made man to be Ms own eternal master, and left the 
future consequences altogether to his decisions and acts, 
is manifestly the utterance of imbecility. It would do to 
impute such recklessness and absence of wisdom and good- 

6 



82 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

ness to some mythologic Being. But to associate such a 
thought with the Eternal Mind of this beautiful and magnifi- 
cent universe, is, to my mind, more blasphemous than the oft- 
repeated oaths of the thoughtless man. The Lord, accord- 
ing to Moses, gave Adam no adequate and influential reason 
why the apple should not have been eaten. He says, " in 
the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Now, 
how could that inexperienced and unilluminated mind under- 
stand what were the horrors and convulsions of death — tem- 
poral or spiritual ?~physical or eternal ? 

The serpent "was more subtil than any beast of the field." 
According to the myth, the serpent contradicted every thing 
which the Lord had communicated to Adam. "Ye shall not 
surely die," said the loquacious serpent. Now it appears 
from the account, that the woman had never had any conver- 
sation with the Lord on the subject of sin, nor received any 
commandment from him — except, perhaps, at second-hand 
through her husband ; and hence, she, " seeing that the tree 
was good [not evil, remember, but good] for food, and that 
it was -pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired [not for 
mere physical gratification and selfish luxury, but] to make 
one wise, took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also 
unto her husband," &c, * * "and the eyes of both were 
opened." It is honestly supposed by many, that the " ser- 
pent" was the " devil," tempting Eve to violate a known com- 
mandment or law of rectitude. But let me ask : Who 
created that wicked and subtil being ? Where did he get his 
power to deceive ? Did the " supernatural sin," in its enor- 
mous strength and subtil windings throughout the domain of 
unfolding beings, develop that creeping, deceiving, venomous 
monster ? Far from it. The Mosaic myth is sufficiently 
explicit on this head ; and I am not a little surprised thai 
Christian scholars, and honorable men in the church, do not 
confess to the literal truth. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 83 

Adam and Eve were the last or final creations. Every 
thing else in the heavens above and in the earth beneath — 
"every creeping thing" — was completed before the introduc- 
tion of man. " And God saw every thing that he had made, 
and, behold, it was very good" and satisfactory. Now, what 
does the account say concerning the beguiling serpent ? In 
the beginning of the third chapter of Genesis, it is distinctly 
affirmed, that " the serpent was more subtil than any beast 
of the field which [not the supernatural sin, but which] the 
Lord God had made !" The serpent was subtil ; but the 
Lord had made him so! And why the poor, unfortunate 
beast— not being created in the category of so-called free 
moral " powers"— was subsequently " cursed" with such an 
almighty determination, and condemned to a life of wretch- 
edness in the mud and dust of creation ; is a question which 
some biblical commentator, more versed in Greek and Hebrew 
than in science or philosophical intelligence, can best answer 
to the perfect satisfaction of those who have not yet learned 
the art of independent thinking. 

But to the important question. Did the first human pair 
violate a known law of duty or rectitude ? According to the 
superficial and unexaggerated letter of the Mosaic account, 
I affirm that they did not. They were not mentally illumi- 
nated. The education, which a proper amount of experience 
can alone stamp upon the human intellect, they had not yet 
acquired. They had no certain data from which to infer any 
thing definitely as to what sin is, or would eventually result 
in ; for no person had yet died either a physical or moral 
death. Consequently, when the Lord gave them their so- 
called " moral freedom''' associated with a powerful tempta- 
tion to influence them to misuse it, and also the penalty of 
inevitable " death" as a sequence of the latter result ; he 
gave them a matter which they could not have understood, 
in all its theological lengths and breadths ; and the supposed 



84 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

effects of the original sin are now towering far above the 
world as a frowning and everlasting rebuke to that Power, 
which, without consulting man's freedom in the first instance, 
did not exercise sufficiently the attributes of goodness and 
wisdom in creating the human world. According to this 
oriental myth, I say, the first pair did not do that which 
would constitute a theological definition of the supernatural 
sin. They did not transgress any known law of God. The 
woman had not received any inspiration as to her duty. 
The first conversation which, according to the account, Eve 
indulged in after her creation was with the " subtil serpent" 
which the Lord God himself had made. What shall we say, 
then, to the world's theology ? Whence came it ? I reply. 
We must charge it mainly to the learned ignorance and to 
the honest cupidity — if I may so use the expressive paradoxes 
— of the popes, and priests, and sacerdotal orders of men, 
who have elaborated the present system of theology. They 
suppose they find a wondrous system of Redemption in the 
world. This is designed, they think, to do away with some- 
thing equally as wondrous. Accordingly, the " original sin" 
must be magnified and exaggerated to conform, with a certain 
amount of philosophical proportion, to the stupendous scheme 
which is designed to achieve the great universal regeneration. 
Thus, clergymen have filled the world with soul-cramping 
theories and systems of ethics, and the people have become 
so thoroughly " salivated" with it, as the allopathic physician 
salivates his patients with calomel, that nothing but years of 
obedience to the laws of Nature and reason can effectually 
accomplish the perfect eradication. 

The theological method of convicting the world of super- 
natural sin, to be consistent, the system should assert that 
Adam's advent upon the earth was a matter of previous per- 
sonal consent ; that the Lord actually opened his understand- 
ing as to the exact principles of Right, causing him internally 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 85 

to know them ; and then depicted the eternal and horrible 
consequences certain to follow the first transgression. Ac- 
cording to the true conceptions of justice to man in the 
premises, with which my mind is now impressed, I will briefly 
describe the conference which the Lord God should have had 
with Adam prior to his introduction on the earth. — I mean, 
on the supposition that the church doctrines of moral freedom 
and voluntary sin, are unequivocally true. It is not incon- 
sistent that the Lord should converse, on the hypothesis that 
Moses is a faithful historian ; for his " voice was heard" by 
the citizens of Eden, while " walking in the garden in the 
cool of the day," &c. — implying that the Lord, as a man, is 
capable of walking and conversing with mortals face to face. 
I am now to describe, I repeat, the conversation which the 
Lord should have held with Adam, in order to leave the 
Divine character unimpeached, and man at liberty to do or 
not to do the will of God. 

Among all the innumerable " Hosts of powers" in the su- 
pernatural realm, it may be supposed that the Lord God had, 
after completing the creation of the heavens and the earth, 
selected a spirit, named Adam, to go upon the earth and 
commence the generation of mortals. Calling this spirit to 
his side, the Lord may be imagined to have addressed him, 
according to the inculcations of popular theology, in the fol- 
lowing language : — -" Adam, in the dim and shadowy immen- 
sity, I have just completed a world with fields, seas, hills, 
valleys, and mountains. It is lighted by a sun, by countless 
stars, and a moon. The fields are clothed with herbs ; the 
beasts roam among the hills ; the fish sport in the liquid ele- 
ment ; the air is pierced and transpierced by birds of song ; 
the viper crawls in the dust ; and a beauteous luxuriance 
emanates from every thing which I have made ; and I have 
pronounced the whole creation to be 'very good.' But, 
Adam, there is not a man to till the ground. It requires at- 



86 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

tention, and the earth needs to be subdued. Now, I have a 
proposition to express. I desire that you should consent to 
go to the earth, and take your position as Lord of the crea- 
tion. But you are a free son of God. You are a free moral, 
self-determining power; not subject to mechanical force, nor 
to the earthly system of cause and effect. You are at liberty 
to go, or not, as you may desire. You may remain in this 
heavenly country to all eternity, or you may go to earth. If 
you 'consent' to accept my proposition, and become the 
Lord and sole proprietor of the earth and of all its posses- 
sions, you should do so understanding^. I see the 'end 
from the beginning' — and, that you may be fully enlightened 
as to the nature and consequence of the enterprise, I will 
relate what w T ill inevitably occur in the rolling away of 
centuries. 

If you go to earth, remember, you go on your own personal 
responsibility ; for, being a free moral power, I have no right 
to restrict your individual movements. In the best place 
thereon, I will plant a beautiful garden. I desire you to dress 
and clean it ; but you are at liberty not to do it if you so 
desire the contrary. 

In that garden I will plant a tree, which will bear a beauti- 
ful fruit. This fruit I shall put there as a strong temptation 
to your disposition. I shall also form for you a female com- 
panion, and bless you both. Then I shall leave the rest to 
you and your wife. 

Now, hearken ; while I relate what will surely result from 
your undertaking. You will eat the fruit, which, as I now 
inform you, will result in the total dejwavity of the myriads 
of generations which shall succeed you. The human Race 
4 will surely die,' both physically and spiritually, in my esti- 
mation. But, in order to maintain justice and show mercy, I 
shall send to earth my only begotten Son. He will suffer 
every thing. He will take upon himself the sins of the world ; 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 87 

and his righteousness will be imputed to the sinner. But, 
Adam, notwithstanding all this, you will inevitably destroy 
the beautiful order of the physical creation and be the primary 
cause of the eternal and unutterable wretchedness of count- 
less multitudes/' 

Adam, overwhelmed with the perils and mountainous evils 
which would attend or succeed the adventure, begins to grow 
feeble in his heart, and almost resolves not to be " formed" on 
earth. And yet, not realizing the truthfulness of the relation 
which the Lord had just pronounced, it may now be sup- 
posed that Adam replied thus : — fx 

" My eternal Lord, I acknowledge the perfect freedom of 
my soul to accept or reject your proposition ; although it is 
hard for me to realize, in view of all this rolling ocean 
of eternal Love whereon Wisdom shines with such ineffable 
majesty, how it can be possible for Omnipotence to be so op- 
pressed and circumscribed in its strength and operation as to 
permit a single free power, like myself, to disconcert the 
earth, and fill the future realms of darkness with unutterable 
wretchedness and woe." 

"Concerning this, I will enlighten your understanding,' 5 
says the Lord. 

" It is within my power, Adam, to prevent all the evils and 
atrocious crimes, which will result from your transport to 
earth ; but I am, in the deep, sober comprehensiveness of my 
Wisdom, constrained to obey certain laws of consistency among 
the " Hosts" of self-causing powers. Although I most fully 
comprehend the prodigious calamities consequent upon your 
going to the earth, and eating the fruit which I shall deny 
to you ; nevertheless, to be consistent with your moral free- 
dom, I must proceed to people the earth without seeming to 
know the end from the beginning, or interfering with your 
consents and choice. I say this, that you may adopt my 
proposition in the light of your own freedom and reason." 



88 THE APPROACHING CRISTS. 

Adam replies : " The latter I can now understand. But 
the former, my Lord, the eternal consequences of eating of 
that simple fruit — this is still beyond my comprehension. It 
is presumption to think that a spirit's minute and feeble fac- 
ulties, wrapped around with the dim and shadowy clouds of 
finite things, can comprehend at once the mighty scheme, 
and all the results thereof. Lest, therefore, I may be led 
astray by false reason, or captivated by ten thousand deceit- 
ful things, and fail to live the just life, I pray you my finite 
vision to unscale, and, through the interminable avenue of 
coming centuries, let me behold the Terrors which have cast 
their hideous shapes upon thy all-seeing mind." 

We may now imagine that the Lord God touched Adam's 
mind, and gave it the power to view the scenes of his 
future course. 

Adam gazed. He beheld the earth in its primeval beauty 
all as it had been told him. The luxurious garden all ready 
for the final preparation to accommodate his presence. He 
saw the irresistible tree of good and evil. Its fruit sparkled 
in the shining sun ; and when his companion gave him it, he 
did eat. Now, there spread a deepening gloom over the 
world. He had fallen, in the love and estimation of his 
heavenly sovereign. Eternal Justice was offended ; and 
all things began to bear thorns and thistles, or to wither 
and to decay. 

Still he gazed. And in the distant time, he beheld the 
wars, cruelties, and abominations of man. He saw the deluge ; 
the confusion of tongues ; the scattering of the nations ; the 
line of seers and prophets ; the Incarnation of the Only Son ; 
his life of trial and wretchedness ; and his death upon the 
huge cross. The vision was sickening to his soul, and fatal 
to his resolution. But further on he saw, reflected in the 
literature of the world, the horrid realities of the bottomless 
gulf. And soon, he beheld the abyss itself in all its flaming 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 89 

terror. The mountainous wall of burning adamant struck a 
sickness to Adam's soul, and he found no words to express 
the consequences of his first transgression. His heart turned 
within upon itself; and he could only adopt the weak lan- 
guage of Pollok in relating what he beheld : 

" Upon that burning Wall, 
In horrible emblazonry, were limned 
All shapes, all forms, all modes of wretchedness, 
And agony, and grief, and desperate woe." 
* * * « "Wide W as the place, 
And deep as wide, and ruinous as deep. 
Beneath he saw a lake of burning fire, 
With tempest tossed perpetually, and still 
The waves of fiery darkness 'gainst the rocks 
Of dark damnation broke, and music made 
Of melancholy sort • and overhead, 
And all around, wind warred with wind, storm howled 
To storm, and lightning forked lightning crossed, 
And thunder answered thunder, muttering sound 
Of sullen wrath •, and far as sight could pierce, 
Or down descend in caves of hopeless depth, 
Through all that dungeon of unfading fire, 
He saw most miserable beings walk, 
Burning continually, yet unconsumed ; 
Forever wasting, yet enduring still ; 
Dying perpetually, yet never dead !" 

You involuntarily shrink, my friends, from this horrid 
picture ; but you should remember, that it was originally 
painted by a talented clergyman. What an expenditure of 
mind and thought ! What an abuse of imagination ! But 
let us, for the present purpose, imagine the foregoing to have 
been Adam's vision previous to his approach to our earth. 
Surely, if he had " consented" to take the earth for his habita- 
tion, after having viewed, thus prospectively, the disastrous 
and overwhelming consequences thereof; then, indeed, would 
there exist some rationalistic ground for the theological scheme 



90 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

which has obtained a footing in this lower world. But does 
Moses furnish any such premises for the original sin ? Was 
Adam, according to that account, consulted and treated in the 
commencement, as a free moral power should have been, in 
view of all the perils of his enterprise ? Nay. The Lord 
God forced man into this existence ; breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of life ; put him into the garden to dress it ; and 
then commanded him not to eat the fruit for' the fear of incur- 
ring a mystical penalty, of which his inexperienced and un- 
illuminated mind could not form the least reasonable concep- 
tion ! Therefore I affirm, that, granting the Mosaic account 
to be perfectly true to the letter, there is no foundation for 
the vast theological superstructure of " original sin" and 
" Redemption" as claimed by the entire clergy of Christendom. 

The first part of my discourse on this subject, is now nearly 
completed. I have shown you that we must seek for the 
" origin of evil" outside of any scriptural statement, and 
separate from all modern theological speculations, if we would 
arrive at the plain, unvarnished truth. The Bible account 
of creation is a very interesting myth — mainly a plagiarism, 
from the early traditions and cosmological doctrines of the 
ancient Persians and Chaldeans. But to regard the first 
chapters of Genesis as a divine revelation of truth, is to press 
to your hearts a pagan relic, which should no more command 
your serious respect than the ancient doctrines of Fetichism. 
This assertion is susceptible of the fullest confirmation ; not 
only by the high authority of an enlightened reason, but also 
by the philosophical spirit of history. 

The eternal Deity, my friends, amply demonstrates to us 
the character of his Religion ! His creed is written all over 
the firmament. It is expressed in the order, beauty, and love- 
liness of Nature. It flows up from the depths of the pure 
soul. All indications testify, fully, that the true religion is 
Justice, and joy, and peace, and beauty. If we would study 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 91 

this creed, let us go forth and meditate in the open fields — let 
us look up, and contemplate the works and vjays of Nature's 
God. We are never so free and happy as when we bring 
our spirits into direct sympathy with the forms and flowers 
of nature. 

It is evident that the decorations of the earth and the 
heavens were not unfolded in vain. They must subserve 
some useful and elevating purpose. They must be the mani- 
festations of some universal Spirit or Principle of Beauty and 
Truth. Chance is not such a skillful builder ! No ! the 
Divine Mind is the fountain source ; who, in his universally 
published creed, is certainly no gloomy Orthodox, or Quaker. 
For instead of causing Creation uniformly to wear a drab 
dress, or a dismal expression foreboding evil, he has bedecked 
the hills and dales with ineffable loveliness, and placed a 
shining crystal on the breast of the granite mountain ! 

Nor are the Birds monotonous either in their dress or song. 
The sturdy oaks, too, put forth their boughs in diverse ways, 
and spread out the foliage of gladness and youth. Surely, 
there is a principle of Beauty in Nature ! And its perpetual 
breathings prove that a Perfect Deity is both its Author and 
Friend. It appears, I repeat, that the Deity is the grand 
source of all beauty and loveliness. But why is it so? Cer- 
tainly, he can not be what is generally termed, an Orthodox 
in his Religion. He can not be eternally conscious of the 
existence of a pandemonium just beyond the boundaries of his 
glorious dominion ! He can not see the eternal " destruction' 
of the wicked, and yet send forth a principle of love, youth, 
and beauty into this world — causing the birds to sing the 
songs of gladness, and the fields to teem with blushing love- 
liness ! No ; the thought is impossible ! For if there were 
a hell in the neighborhood of heaven, as asserted by mis- 
impressed and wrongly educated clergymen ; and if that 
abyss contained but one — just one — lost soul ; we know, 



92 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

granting the Lord to be unable to save, that the angels in 
heaven — our departed brothers and sisters — would weep tears 
enough to extinguish the fires of hell ; and, upon the swelling 
bosom of an ocean thus formed, that once lost soul would ride 
triumphantly into the courts of heaven ! 

Supernaturalism, as scripturally derived and philosophically 
explained by clergymen, utterly fails to account for the origin 
of evil, on the supposition that every human being is a free 
moral and self-determining power. Adam did not absolutely 
know, by any personal experience or spiritual prevision, the 
entire laws of eternal justice and rectitude ; and hence, when 
he began to put into practice the normal liberties and volun- 
tary powers of his nature, he did so experimentally ; just as we 
first taste of food to ascertain its flavor, or smell the growing 
plant in order to learn the nature of its fragrance. If doing 
that which we know to be wrong, is sin ; then, as knowledge 
is based upon absolute experience and foresight, Adam does 
not come under the condemnation. Adam was told not to 
eat the fruit under penalty of inevitable death. The account 
asserts the information, or positive commandment, to have 
been openly communicated by the Lord God unto the man 
whom he had formed. The external authority, therefore, was 
of the very highest order. But did the man, with his mind 
wholly undeveloped and inexperienced, know that the Lord 
had told him the perfect truth ? You may reply, that the 
Lord caused Adam internally to feel the truth and the im- 
portance of the commandment. But this is going beyond the 
primary assertions of the foundation of supernaturalism — the 
Bible ; and so, in a discussion of this particular and exceed- 
ingly momentous character, no such reply is in any way 
admissible. 

In a very obscure and mystical method, Adam was in- 
formed that the effect of eating the forbidden fruit, was certain 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 93 

death, and that is all ! Nothing is said -about the asserted 
consequences of that sin, to be experienced by all subsequent 
generations, and throughout the interminable centuries of 
eternity. The latter information might have strengthened 
Adam's mind, and energized his soul to the everlasting obe- 
dience of what he might have supposed to be the laws of 
supernal justice and right. But according to the account, 
the first man had no such inducements to be righteous ; 
neither any mental enlightenment as to the true principles 
of rectitude, the laws of existence, or the ways of happiness. 
The penalty of certain death, as a logical sequence of eating 
a beautiful and inviting fruit, was " all Greek" to both Adam 
and Eve. It is like seriously informing a new-born babe, that 
the fire will burn ; or the desert Arab, that thunder issues from 
the concussion of surcharged clouds. 

Rationalism, as opposed to supernaturalistic revelations 
and faith, is, therefore, obliged to supplant all mythological 
theories of evil and redemption, and shed its light over the 
rugged, ascending pathway of mankind's progression. The 
sins and evils in the world must first be rationally explained, 
as to their origin, before the world can rationally set about 
the work of extermination and human deliverance. For 
eighteen long, dark, wearisome, eventful centuries, the Bible, 
or the church medicine, has been administered to the sin-sick 
soul. But the V disease" still prevails ; and the "Doctors" — of 
divinity, I mean — continue to feel the public pulse, and to pre- 
scribe the old nostrums. While science and philosophy— 
those darling offspring of the human mind — have, by the in- 
dention of printing, by the science of navigation, by the discov- 
ery of steam, &c, civilized and advanced this portion of the 
earth ; Christianity, as now understood and interpreted, on 
the contrary, has been, in the hands of its champions, the 
great Conservative power in the world, — retarding the march 
of freedom, and vilifying every member of humanity, who has 



94 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

successfully out-rode the storms of the church, and who now 
ventures to apply new remedies to existing disorders among 
men. Without further premising, I will proceed to utter my 
impressions concerning the true origin and nature of evil. 

In order to give an intelligent and decisive solution to this 
question, your minds should first recognize a few philosophical 
preliminaries, respecting the subordinate system of Nature, 
especially as unfolded in the earth. A permanent founda- 
tion for all true and enlightened reasoning may be easily 
discovered somewhere in the vast world or systems about us ; 
but, unless we are certain as to the basis or premises, we are 
not likely long to retain and cherish the superstructure as a 
temple of truth and reason. 

The earth, in its primeval condition, was a mere combina- 
tion of liquid elements — a blazing comet, rolling upon its axis 
and flying eccentrically about the Sun from which it origin- 
ally w r as eliminated. For many ages our earth was in this 
state. If any one of you could then have gazed this way, 
from the beautiful planet Saturn, which was then peopled, 
you would have seen a conglobated combination of fire-mist, 
sending off, in all directions, glowing emanations of light, as 
from a blazing substance. You need no longer fear that this 
world will in the future be consumed by the dissolving flame. 
For it has passed that point, and the principle of progress 
never permits an actual retrogression in any thing existing. 
This description of the origin of our earth you may consider 
wholly destitute of adequate proof. But I assure you to the 
contrary, and affirm, that all astronomical discoveries — the 
physical constitution of the sun, the immense territories of 
luminous nebulce in space, the eccentric comets, &c, com- 
bined with all the geological discoveries of this era — demon- 
strate conclusively, or as far as an external method of research 
can bring forth reliable deductions from well-ascertained data, 
that the earth was originally a vast globe of flaming elements ! 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 95 

In accordance with the laws of progress and development, 
the heated, flowing substances gradually began to lose their 
ignigeneous properties, and the process of cooling and strati- 
fication imperceptibly commenced. It would be very inter- 
esting to notice in detail all the extensive and wondrous 
changes which resulted from the process of primary stratifi- 
cation of the earth's surface, but this would not subserve our 
present purposes. We must pass rapidly over very many 
ages, and contemplate the earth subsequent to the hardening 
of its circumference. 

There was nothing orderly or symmetrical. One portion 
of the planet was covered with water; another, pierced the 
upper air with towering mountains. Every thing was angu- 
lar — full of grotesque forms of matter — irregular and unequal 
as the thoughts of the inebriate. This was the primary con- 
dition of the earth — a stage, when properly denominated, of 
wildness and universal eccentricity. 

But soon the beautiful process of crystalization commenced. 
The earth, however, contained no rounded and symmetrically 
shaped particles of matter ; and so, as a natural consequence, 
the minerals and crystals which were formed, — by the chem- 
ical action of existing gases in connection with the pervading 
heat and the sun's influence, — were all replete with angles 
and sharp projections. The first forms were necessarily 
irregular and almost indescribably fantastical. In proportion, 
however, to the modifications in the atmosphere, the refine- 
ments in the mineral kingdom, and the improvements in the 
general physical conditions in nature ; in the same propor- 
tion did the productions of Nature assume a more orderly 
and harmonious appearance. "When atoms of matter be- 
came intrinsically improved, the result was forthwith mani- 
fested in the development of higher forms in the fields of 
creation. The highest crystalization or mineralization of 
particles merged into the lowest form of vegetable life. If 



96 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

you compare the physical construction of a mineral body with 
any species of plants or vegetation, the coatings and fibers 
of the latter will appear distinctly, though incipiently, in the 
former. How like the leaves and fibers of plants do the crys- 
talizations of frost appear on the window-glass in winter ! 
But you never see mineral bodies so distinctly exhibiting 
animal organizations. Because, in the order of progress, the 
mineral kingdom immediately precedes the vegetable king- 
dom ; and the latter, the animal creation ; which, in a vast 
variety of particulars, indicates its parentage and ancestral 
relationships. 

In the plant and animal are exhibited many points of like- 
ness. The rounded limb ; the external surface and the 
marrow ; the circulation of fluids and gases through the 
body ; the drawing of nourishment from the earth, and the 
absorption of the surrounding atmosphere, — these are the 
most conspicuous features of similarity. But a closer ana- 
tomical inspection would reveal certain analogous physiolo- 
gical processes and habits, so to express it, which clearly 
demonstrate the nearness of the relationship between the 
two kingdoms. 

Now you perceive how gradually the principles of progress 
and development elaborate higher and better productions, from 
the primary particles which were exceedingly gross and gro- 
tesque. But at a point where the animal kingdom ceases to 
go on, there the human kingdom commences its eternal march 
of being. What a moment — what an epoch — was this, when 
the mortal put on immortality ! The animal became the 
human ; and the new creation asserted its supremacy ! You 
may not now — at this late day of creation — see the exact 
point at which the animal glided into the human type ; be- 
cause the transition species have become nearly extinct ; but 
even yet, when you contrast the lowest types of humanity 
with the highest animal organizations in nature, you will be 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 97 

greatly astonished at the brotherly likeness presented. The 
same anatomy and physiology are exhibited ; also analogous 
attractions and habits. I will not now present any particular 
elucidations on this head ; but proceed directly to assure 
you that there is a unity, and a progressive harmony, in the 
System of Nature. 

By the foregoing sketch, you can not but recognize the 
progressive development of all things from the lowest gross- 
ness in the primary condition of the earth to the highest re- 
finement in the human creation. But you ask — what has 
all this to do with the origin of evil ? Be patient with me, 
and I will fully manifest the application. Gross and angular 
particles of matter make mineral organizations. When the 
atoms become more symmetrical, they pass into the formation 
of plants. The vegetable kingdom achieves an alteration and 
improvement in the shape and condition of the particles, and 
then the latter ascend the scale of being, and unfold the ani- 
mal. From this point of atomic refinement, the human king- 
dom commences ; and this connects the material and the 
spiritual — the mortal with immortality ! Now the human 
Race has gone, or is now passing, through a similar system 
of progression. All development goes by cycles ; the links 
in the endless, spirally ascending scale of progress. All things 
throughout the immeasurable domain of terrestrial and celes- 
tial existence, — with their forces, laws, movements, and de- 
velopments, — are reciprocally related to, and inseparably 
connected with, each other ; and so there is formed or con- 
stituted a magnificent, unitary system of existence and causa- 
tion, of which the Divine Being is the great positive Life- 
principle and regulating Power. 

In the subordinate departments of nature, the order of the 
system stands thus : Earth, Minerals, Vegetables, Animals, 
Man. The same identical system of cycles has been, or is being, 
manifested by the progressions of mankind. The order stands 

7 



98 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

historically and absolutely, thus : Savagism, Barbarism, Pa- 
triarchalism, Civilism, Republicanism. The same system is 
exhibited in the normal life of every individual, thus : Infancy, 
Youth, Adolescence, Manhood, Maturity. The analogy is 
none the less perfect in the development and association of 
moving principles, thus : Motion, Life, Sensation, Organiza- 
tion, Intelligence. 

I am impressed to present these analogies in order to im- 
part a clear conception of the system of the world ; in con- 
tradistinction to the supernatural theory of specific creation 
of perfect things, and subsequent discord by the workings of 
sin. When the individual is yet in the Infant stage of growth ; 
how angular and grotesque are the external manifestations 
of character ! Inconsiderate, impatient, impetuous, reckless. 
Thoughtlessly, the inexperienced mind tastes or grasps the 
first thing presented. It would drink milk or vitriol, so far as 
its knowledge goes, with an equal degree of readiness. The 
milk would nourish ; but the vitriol would impair or destroy 
life. Behold, in this simple illustration, the whole mystery 
and philosophy of evil's origin. The child plays with the 
viper as unconsciously of danger as with a beautiful ribbon. 
The undisciplined hand reaches forth to grasp the fla?ne of the 
taper as willingly as " the burnt child" studiously avoids the 
contact. If the mouth should receive only the milk, the or- 
ganic laws of the physical economy would then be obeyed ; 
but the vitriol, although drank with the same degree of wil- 
lingness, would possibly subvert, temporarily, the organic 
harmonies, or terminate the bodily existence. If you should 
command the child not to drink the vitriol under the penalty 
of certain death, and still leave the inexperienced mind to act 
from its voluntary impulses ; the child, not knowing any thing 
definitely about the nature of vitriol or the phenomenon of 
death, would be very likely to drink the forbidden beverage, 
should it be the most attractive to all external appearances. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 99 

As the progress of the Race is typified in the individual ; so 
is the origin of evil, or disease and discord, with mankind, 
manifested in the acts and impulses of the uneducated child. 
If the child impairs its constitution by various transgressions 
of the physical and organic laws of its being, then the genera- 
tions succeeding it will surely receive the results of the distur- 
bance, through the laws of hereditary descent or transmission. 
You ask — " How did evil originate ?" What do you mean 
by evil ? Do you mean the diseases, the wars, the cruelties, 
the discords in the world ? If so ; then I reply, in accordance 
with my impressions, that they are the consequences of a 
regular system of progressive development in Nature, — just 
as angular crystals, sharp and craggy rocks, irregular vegeta- 
tion, cumbrous plants with thorns, huge animals, and imperfect 
developments of the human species, are the steps of a trans- 
cending law of progress, in its majestic march from the deep- 
est recesses of grossness and materiality to the highest emi- 
nences of refinement and spirituality. I will presently eluci- 
date this point more particularly. The human race, in its 
passage from savagism to civilization, has been subjected to 
the laws of experience as the only source of absolute knowl- 
edge. The civilized nations, as they are termed, manifest 
still the consequences of their journey ; they show, in their 
laws and institutions, certain predispositions of character 
which remind us of the early stages of man. Savagism is 
the great great grandfather of Civilization. The offspring 
bears distinct traces of its parentage ! The laws of national 
hereditary transmission of qualities, are immutable. The 
evils, or rather the numerous misdirections, of savagism, are 
now nearly extinct among civilized nations ; but the features 
of Patriarchalism are still discoverable in the religious and 
political organizations of the most advanced inhabitants of 
the earth. One Era sits in judgment against the preceding, 
as the youth judges his father. The angularities or misdi- 



100 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

rections of savagism are condemned by those minds who out- 
grow them in the order of progress. The American Nation, 
— if it can be termed a nation, — to-day sits in judgment 
against all the nations of the earth — rebuking them for their 
evils, their discords, wars, and tyrannical institutions. But 
America is also condemned by still more liberty-loving spirits 
for her Slavery and local disorders. We do not know what 
wrong or misdirection is, until we outgrow it in our minds 
and morals. The doctrine of evil, therefore, is a local and 
arbitrary matter ; which the succeeding generation will alter 
to suit the standard of another construction. 

Surely, you see the truth of this statement. How do you 
know that milk is better than vitriol for babes ? " By expe- 
rience'' — you reply. Do you know by personal experience ? 
" No." How, then, do you know ? - ■ By the experience and 
well-authorized attestations of others." Yes, this is almost 
knowledge ; because it is based on the experience of the race 
to which you belong, and in which you unconsciously con- 
fide. So, you learn that slavery is wrong by a knowledge of 
liberty and of its blissful concomitants. Again, I affirm, that 
evil is altogether an arbitrary term, which men apply to those 
inequalities and misdirections which they have themselves 
morally as well as intellectually outgrown, but which others 
far less developed may still continue to perpetuate. There 
is a vast difference between perceiving a wrong by the in- 
tellect, and resisting that wrong by an exercise of the moral 
sensibilities. One person may be morally and intellectually 
above the act of theft. In such a case, the mind has nothing 
to resist ; for the act is held by the individual as beneath the 
dignity of his inward nature. Another person may equally 
know that theft is wrong, according to the laws of the land ; 
but, when the opportunity presents, he finds his moral feel- 
ings not very strongly opposed to the act — in fact, he does 
not consider the deed beneath his dignity at all. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 101 

Clergymen, knowing almost nothing of man's spiritual 
character, in connection with the laws of progress and de- 
velopment, are very sanguine as to the correctness of the 
Bible-idea of sin ; and the people are compelled to labor 
under gospel vituperations and clerical denunciations of every 
description, without knowing how, or daring, to obtain a 
better idea of the sins complained of by their shepherds. It 
is now my impression to relate, briefly, the real origin of 
what is termed evil — commencing, as the clergymen do, with 
the beginning of the human species. What has been said, 
thus far, is concerning the philosophy of sin or discord as 
developed in the system of Nature. 

The doctrine, that the race began from a single pair of 
originally pure and heavenly beings, is vastly far from the 
real truth. You who have intellectual discernment and com- 
prehension adequate, should not allow your minds to misread 
Nature, which is the book of deific origin. Creation shows, very 
explicitly, that the commencement of any thing is gross and im- 
perfect. Nothing begins existence with prominent spiritual 
characteristics and terminates in the depths of grossness and 
materiality. I speak now of the great universal system of Na- 
ture. The first trees, the first animals, the first men, were quite 
imperfectly formed and as unrefined. The same is true of 
every thing invented by man. The first agricultural imple- 
ments, the first steam-boats, the first locomotive, &c, were ex- 
ceedingly defective and cumbersome. Progression proves that 
" that is not first which is spiritual, but natural and afterward 
the spiritual." Accordingly, I discover the first types of 
the human family to have been dwarfed or unadvanced in 
mental development ; but gigantic and powerful in their phys- 
ical structure and organic constitutions. They were giants 
in every respect, except in mind. They were to the present 
race of men what the megatherium, the missourium, and the 
mammoth were to the present existing types of animals. 



102 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

Progression in mind brings physical refinement ; thus, the 
animal-man becomes extinct in proportion as the spiritual- 
man obtains the ascendency. All this I have shown you in 
considering the unity of the system of Nature. 

Asia, as all mythologic traditions and history truly indicate, 
cradled the first born of the human species. By the first 
born, I do not mean any special creations by a deific hand ; 
but the first type of the mammiferous animals which ap- 
proached sufficiently near the human type to be properly 
denominated the " first born" of the race to which we belong. 
There were two distinct molds or forms of the mammiferse 
organization that ascended at the same time rapidly toward 
the human organism. One tribe existed in eastern, the other 
in western Asia. They did not discover each other until a 
long period after they had established independent nations or 
tribes. One race was more effeminate than the other. And 
when, like the race of modern Gipsies, the former tribe trav- 
eled over the fertile country of Asia, and discovered the 
stronger race, an immediate union was formed ; and thus the 
two types, combined, commenced the production of the differ- 
ent nations that subsequently peopled the earth. Still they 
were savage in habit and ferocious in disposition. They 
were far more animal than human ; the spiritual was as yet 
undeveloped, and the material greatly preponderated. They 
lived peacefully and harmoniously so long as the various 
wants of their physical constitutions were plentifully sup- 
plied. When these material conditions were not fully com- 
plied with, they would, like the beasts of the forests, or, 
perhaps, more as the inhabitants of the Cannibal Islands, 
manifest the unrefined and savage custom of quarreling and 
warring with each other and with nature for what they con- 
sidered to be their rights. But I must hasten away over 
several centuries ; during which period the youthful types of 
man employed the natural, or rather rudiment al language,— 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 103 

such as motions, gesticulations, configurations of the counte- 
nance, &. ; which, by not involving much complicity, they 
contrived to use, without any distinct modification or trouble, 
until they discovered their ability to make a vast variety of 
vocal sounds. This discovery was at first hailed with de- 
light. Accordingly, they very rapidly abandoned their prim- 
itive habit and form of expression ; and forthwith began to 
communicate their thoughts by vocal effort. And now, 
behold, what a great fire a little matter kindleth ? 

When the early inhabitants used only gesticulations, as- 
sisted by a crude form of hieroglyphical language, as means 
of individual communication, the simplicity and fixedness 
of the agents employed, prevented all. misunderstanding 
as to the real import of each other's thoughts. Vegeta- 
bles, animals, birds, mud-images, objects worked out of soft 
stone, — such were their books, their history, their creeds, and 
schools. But with vocal expression came also misunder- 
standing ! Their minds were not yet sufficiently developed to 
establish grammatical order and intelligent sounds ; and it was 
soon discovered that 'different persons would make different 
oral sounds to signify the same thing. Not properly understand- 
ing each other's natures, each held the other responsible for in- 
tentionally, and with premeditation, varying the sound of the 
voice when referring to any specific thing. Many of the youth- 
ful nation soon became impatient, — honestly supposing that 
the vocal expressions were breeding falsehoods and deception. 
They rapidly became displeased with each other ; and socially 
miserable and antagonistic. They became envious, cruel, 
and deceptive ; because their intellectual endowments were 
not enough developed to account for, and properly prevent, 
the abounding misunderstandings. However, there was a 
chieftain in their midst who declared that they were pos- 
sessed by a strange and wicked being, who floated in the 
invisible shades of night in the air, breathing a malignant 



104 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

element into their minds. This piece of mystical specula- 
tion the chieftain taught them by using their cast-off hiero- 
glyphical images, Thus commenced a discord which caused 
the youthful family to separate and wander abroad over the 
earth. One tribe blamed and denounced the other as the 
cause of the discord ; and thus was formed the^rs^ theory in 
this world of the origin of evil. The separated tribes soon 
multiplied and established small nations, each developing a dif- 
ferent language in order to escape the hypothetical evil of the 
first vocal sounds employed ; and so originated the different 
nations and the early discords among the human species. All 
this is demonstrable by the history of races and language. 

The facts herein disclosed and set forth, concerning the 
origin of the first discords among the foundation-progenitors 
of mankind, can be, I am impressed to say, substantiated by 
reference to various sources of outward or external informa- 
tion. All ethnological researches into the derivation and dis- 
tribution of the different races and families of men ; all arche- 
ological investigations into the mysteries and science of 
antiquities ; all philological discoveries concerning the origin, 
science, and affinities of the different languages ; all geolo- 
gical disclosures, and the science of comparative anatomy, 
each and all stand as so many unexpected and unsought 
sources of demonstration, that the foregoing statements re- 
specting evil are grounded in historical Truth. Indeed the 
science of the origin of language, of the different races of 
men, of the diverse religions and mythologies in the world, 
essentially require, in common reason, something like the 
above substratum of historical prcecognita or ascertained data 
from which to commence a train of logical inferences and 
deductions. 

Furthermore, how intrinsically probable is this revealment 
of the origin of discord when compared to any theory now 
received. The Old Testament asserts the different languages 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 105 

and races of men to have originated, subsequent to a univer- 
sal deluge, by a supernatural "confusion of tongues" and 
scattering of the tribes engaged in building the Babel-tower. 
Geology, be it distinctly remembered, unfolds evidences 
against the possibility of a universal inundation ; and besides, 
the atmosphere could not have sustained watery vapor in 
sufficient quantity to cover the whole earth on the event of 
condensation. On the score, therefore, of mere natural rea- 
sonable probability, the account, which I have been im- 
pressed to relate, must stand pre-eminently recommended to 
your understanding and credence. Because, moreover, it 
appears in the line of all archeological and geological discove- 
ries with which this age is so exceedingly enriched, — a pow- 
erful presumptive evidence of its truth, which should not be 
overlooked by impartial minds. 

In offering these historic suggestions, as so many conspir- 
ing evidences of the verity of this philological revealment, 
I design not to trouble the reader, of this work, with the 
many argumentations which appear adducible. There are, 
however, a few passages, bearing directly and favorably on 
this question, which I quote from an admirably written and 
rationally disposed work,* entitled " God in Christ," opening 
with a very valuable dissertation concerning the natural 
origin and spiritual significancy of human language. In 
speaking of the origin of vocal sounds, the author says : " It 
is undoubtedly true, as many have asserted, that human lan- 
guage is a gift of God to the race, though not, I think, in the 
sense often contended for. It is by no means asserted, in 
the scriptures to which they refer, that God himself pro- 

* A friend first called my attention to this work, because its author, Dr. Bush- 
nell, has expressed, in the initial chapter, corresponding ideas respecting the 
disputes and differences which arise from the arbitrary nature and indeterminate 
use of vocal expression. From the representations given, I can not see how he 
can refuse to acknowledge the tractability and probability of the foregoing state- 
ment in regard to the origin and establishment of the different languages. 



106 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

nounced the sounds, or vocal names, by which the objects of 
the world were represented, nor that He framed these names 
into a grammar." 

Again, in alluding to the instinct of language in the first 
man being developed by having his mind directed to objects 
around him, the writer says : " He was, Himself, in this view, 
the occasional cause of the naming process ; and, consider- 
ing the nature of the first man to have been originally framed 
for language, he was the creative cause ; still the man him- 
self, in his own freedom, is the immediate, operative cause ; 
the language produced is as truly a human, as a divine pro- 
duct. It is not only for the race, but it is also of the race — 
a human development, as truly as knowledge, or virtue, or 
the forms of the social state." 

The writer is truly aware of the troubles among philologi- 
cal investigators concerning the parentage of vocal expres- 
sion ; and thinks " the fact, that there are living languages, 
between which no real affinity can be discovered, still exists 
in its integrity" — forcing us to " either admit the existence 
of races originally distinct, or else we must refer these lan- 
guages to the Scripture solution of a miracle." This con- 
clusion the writer, like a truly philosophic rationalist and 
thinker, manifests no particular proclivity to accept ; but con- 
siders no mystery in the idea that the " different languages 
are so many free developments of the race." On this head, 
he remarks : " Nor is there any so great impossibility or mys- 
tery in this matter of originating a language, as many seem to 
suppose. I hope it will not offend the romantic or marveling 
propensity of my readers, if I affirm that a new language has 
been created and has perished in Connecticut, within the 
present century." Still further on he says : " Nor is there 
any reason to doubt that incipient and rudimental efforts of 
nature, in this direction, are often made, though in cases and 
modes that escape attention. Indeed, to believe that any 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 107 

two human beings, shut up wholly to each other, to live 
together until they are of a mature age, would not construct 
a language, is equivalent, in my estimation, to a denial of 
their proper humanity." All this, as the reader perceives, 
favors the rationalistic solution of the question. 

As to the tendency of vocal expression, to produce discord 
and unintentional derangements among men, the writer re- 
marks : " men are so different, even good and true men, in their 
personal temperament, their modes of feeling, reasoning and 
judging, that moral bitterness, in its generic sense, will not be 
a state or exercise of the same precise quality in their minds. 
Come persons will take as bitterness in general, what others 
will only look upon as faithfulness, or just indignation. And, 
then, in the particular case to which' the word is to be 
applied, different views and judgments will be formed of 
the man, his provocations, circumstances, duties, and the 
real import of his words and actions." " Words," continues 
the author, " are legitimately used as the signs of thoughts to 
be expressed. They do not literally convey, or pass over a 
thought out of one mind into another, as we commonly speak 
of doing. They are only hints, or images, held up before the 
mind of another, to put him on generating or reproducing the 
same thought ; which he can do only as he has the same per- 
sonal contents, or the generative power out of which to bring 
the thought required. Hence, there will be different meas- 
ures of understanding or misunderstanding, according to the 
capacity or incapacity, the ingenuousness or moral obliquity 
of the receiving party — even if the communicating party 
offers only truth, in the best and freshest forms of expression 
the language provides." From the foregoing paragraphs it 
is reasonable to infer, that Dr. B . has rationally medi- 
tated upon the causes of " the interminable disputes of the 
theologians ;" and has seen, no doubt, several insurmounta- 
ble difficulties, which he has labored not to see, standing in 



108 THE APPROACHING CRISIS, 

i 

the way, preventing the reconciliation of an infallible revela- 
tion with the arbitrary and indeterminate nature of the lan- 
guage, in which that revelation is clothed and forced upon the 
vast contrariety of intellects that compose the human world. 

Analogous troubles are often generated, by similar trivial 
causes, among children who just begin to use vocal ex- 
pression whereby to communicate their thoughts. You 
will see them playing together, delighted with each other's 
society, until something is suggested to be attempted in their 
gambols, which they have not the words or the power to 
clearly express and define. In their haste and impetuosity, 
they misunderstand each other's intentions, and the disturb- 
ance quickly embroils and embitters the whole party. Each 
feels the other to be clearly at fault ; and so, the little angels 
change their peace into a domestic war. Thus was com- 
menced the first troubles among mankind. 

The church theory of evil, on the contrary, attributes or in- 
volves a defect in the divine goodness or in the divine power. 
One creed represents God allowing evil to appear in the 
creature-man in order to openly display his own prowess and 
sovereignty. Another creed represents God as designing to 
make man morally good, but had not the poioer to do so con- 
sistently with the creature's moral freedom. Consequently, 
evil walks into the creation in spite of the Creator ; being, 
according to the supposition, a counterpart or necessary 
result of the good he would create. 

My present impressions can not be more intelligibly or 
practically worded than they have already been by an inde- 
pendent thinker and vigorous writer of this century,* and as 
set forth in the following extract : " Thus moralism is the 
parent of fetichism, or superstitious worship, the parent of 
all sensual and degrading ideas of God, the parent of all cruel 

* See " Moralism and Christianity ; or Man's Experience and Destiny, by 
Henry James," pages 160, 161, et. seq. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 109 

and unclean and abominable worship. Leading me as it 
does to regard my inward self as corrupt, to distrust my 
heart's affections as the deadliest enmity to God, it logically 
prompts the crucifixion of those affections as especially well 
pleasing to Him, and bids me therefore offer my child to the 
flames, clothe my body in sackcloth and ashes, lacerate my 
skin, renounce the comforts and refinements of life, turn 
hermit or monk, forswear marriage, wear lugubrious and hid- 
eous dresses that insult God's daylight, and . make myself, in 
short, under the guise of a voluntary and mendacious humility, 
perfectly ulcerous with spiritual pride, a mass of living puru- 
lence and putridity. 

It is, I repeat, simply inevitable that moralism, or the doc- 
trine of man's subjection to society, should produce these 
effects, should enormously inflame the pride of one class of 
its subjects, and as enormously depress that of another class. 
For if I, being a morally good man, that is, conscientiously 
abstaining from all injustice or injury to my neighbor, come 
to regard that character as constituting a distinction for me 
in the sight of God, as giving me a distinction there above 
some poor devil of an opposite character, it is easy to see 
that I must become as inwardly full of conceit and inhu- 
manity as a nut is full of meat. How can it be otherwise ? 
If the All-seeing behold in me any superiority to the most 
leprous wretch that defiles your streets, then clearly I have 
the highest sanction for esteeming myself above that wretch, 
and treating him not with fellow-feeling, but with condescen- 
sion and scorn. 

I know the unctuous cant, the shabby sophistry, which 
prevails upon this subject. I know it will be replied that I 
' ought not' forsooth ! to do thus, that it ' would be wrong' 
forsooth ! for me to exalt myself above this poor wretch on 
the ground of my superior morality. But wherefore wrong ? 
If that morality really distinguish me before God, if it con- 



110 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

stitute a superior claim to the divine favor, then it were flat 
inconsistency in me, it were flat treason to God, not to ac- 
knowledge it in my practice. Can God's judgment be un- 
righteous ? Wherefore then should I hesitate in anv case to 
conform my conduct to it. ? 

1 Ah !' replies some one, ■ but you do not see as God sees. 
If you saw all the temptations that have beset that poor 
Wretch, if you could see in the first place, the superior inten- 
sity of his passions to yours, his comparative intellectual 
disadvantages, his depraved circumstances from infancy up, 
and so forth, you would possibly regard your difference as 
small, and abate somewhat the tone of your triumph.' This 
is all true. This is exactly what I myself say. But then if 
the circumstances here alledged should affect my judgment 
of my poor friend, much more should they affect His judg- 
ment to whom they are so much better known! If I cease 
on these grounds to exalt myself over my fellow, how much 
more must God cease to exalt me! But if this be so, what 
becomes of your moral distinctions in His sight ? If He 
have no higher esteem for me, a morally good man, than he 
has for you, a morally evil man, then it is clear that the moral 
life is not the life He confers, the life of which He is chiefly 
solicitous. 

You perceive that you are here in a dilemma. Either 
God esteems me a virtuous man above you a vicious man, or 
He does not. If He does, then inasmuch as all His judgments 
are right, and designed for our instruction, I should instantly 
learn to esteem myself above you, that is, to withhold from 
you sympathy or fellowship, in which case I become inhu- 
man by virtue of a direct divine influence. If, on the other 
hand, He do not esteem me a virtuous man, above you a 
vicious man, then you deny the moral life to be God's life in 
man. 

How will you extricate yourself from this dilemma? 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. Ill 

There is but one way. You will say that it was not youi 
intention to represent God as holding one man intrinsically 
superior, or superior in himself, to another, but relatively or 
socially superior only ; superior, that is, with reference to the 
purposes of society. There is consequently no further quar- 
rel between us. Moral distinctions belong purely to our 
earthly genesis and history. They do not attach to us as the 
creatures of God. As the creature of society, I am either 
good or evil. I am good as keeping my natural gratification 
within the limits of social prescription, or evil as allowing it 
to transcend those limits. But as the creature of God, or in 
my most vital and final selfhood, I am positively good ; good 
without any oppugnancy of evil ; good, not by any stinted 
angelic mediation, but by the direct and unstinted indwelling 
of the Godhead. 

I have now expressed my thought with more detail than 
befits a popular Lecture. But as I conceive the subject to 
be of especial interest to all thoughtful minds, I am anxious 
to commend it to your perfect apprehension. With this 
view, let me still further ask your indulgent attention, while 
I discuss an objection which may possibly arise in the minds 
of some of my audience. 

It was alledged, on the delivery of the preceding Lecture, 
that I deny moral distinctions. The allegation is vaguely 
worded, but it is doubtless worthy of respectful investigation. 
If it mean, then, that I deny any difference between good 
and evil actions ; that I call murder, adultery, theft, and so 
forth, good actions ; of course the charge is silly and not 
worth refuting. In this sense no man ever denied moral dis- 
tinctions. No man — not even the unfortunate subject of 
them — ever justified adultery, theft, murder, or falsehood. 
No man ever did one of these things spontaneously, or at the 
instance of his taste. I have indeed heard of persons who 
had a mania for theft ; who, from some exceptional cerebral 



112 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

organization, could omit no opportunity to enrich themselves 
at the expense of others. But these cases are regarded, of 
course, as exceptions to the ordinary tenor of human nature, 
and as putting the subject beyond the pale of responsibility. 
Because, if there be a constitutional aptitude to this offense 
in the party, you manifestly acquit the party himself of it. 
You would no more hold him personally responsible under 
these circumstances, than you would hold him personally 
liable for a hare-lip or any other morbid development. No 
man, then, I repeat, ever injured another from taste or spon- 
taneity. Hence no man ever justified a moral delinquency, 
ever supposed himself acting worthily in taking his neighbor's 
life, property, or good name, or in seducing the affections of 
his wife. 

The objector consequently does not mean to say that I 
confound good and evil actions, since the constitution of the 
human mind makes that impossible. 

He means then, doubtless, that I do not regard the man 
who does good actions as intrinsically better than the man 
who does evil actions. He means, doubtless, that I do not 
regard the morally good man as possessing any superior 
claims upon the divine favor to the morally evil man, but 
view them both as heirs of the same eventual and glorious 
destiny. If the objector means this by his charge, then let 
me suggest an amendment of its form. Let him say to me : 
you deny, not the existence or importance of moral distinc- 
tions among men, but simply their divinity. You deny that 
God is in any measure privy to these distinctions. To the 
charge, thus amended, I freely plead guilty. I am persuaded 
that God's eyes, however universal their empire, have never 
yet been astounded by the appearance of evil in His crea- 
tures. Whence should that evil come ? It can not come 
from Himself, who is essentially good. Whence, then, should 
it have come ? For the supposition, you perceive, makes it 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 113 

a phenomenon of God's creation ; it is the possibility of evil 
in God's creature that we are discussing. How could evil 
be possible in that creature ? You may say that it came 
from the Devil. Very well ; let that answer stand. 

If evil came from the Devil, then the Devil in infusing evil 
into God's creature acted either with God's consent or with- 
out it. If he acted with it, then of course God saw that it 
would not injure the creature, since He had methods of turn- 
ing it all to the creature's superior profit, and so proving the 
Devil a fool for his pains. If he acted without God's consent, 
then of course you give the Devil not only a superior power 
to God, but a superior power over God's own work, or in the 
sphere of God's own activity. That is to say, you make the 
absolute creature of infinite Good confess himself the offspring 
of a deeper paternity — the paternity of infinite Evil. 

But take either branch you choose of this hideous dilemma, 
you manifestly absolve the creature himself of all defilement. 
For whether the Devil infuse evil into him with or without 
the consent of Deity, it is clearly an operation under which 
the creature himself is passive, and I fancy that even the 
Devil is too good a logician to hold one responsible for his 
passions, but only for his actions. Any child might other- 
wise refute him. My passional nature means my various 
susceptibility of enjoyment and suffering from nature and 
man ; my passions are merely the concrete forms of this 
various susceptibility. You would not therefore hold me re- 
sponsible for my passions, unless you at the same time as- 
cribed to me the paternity of nature and man — unless you at 
the same time held me to have created this universal frame 
of nature and society to which these passions owe all their 
existence. 

Thus the Devil turns out an unprofitable hypothesis. He 
is an infinite He. No one can trust in him without being 
confounded. He looms portentously large in all infant cos- 



114 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

mologies — in all those theories of creation which are con- 
structed by the sensuous imagination of the race ; but you 
have only to prick him with the smallest pin of science, and 
he fairly roars you a confession of egregious imbecility. 

The entire traditional doctrine of the origin of evil is ir- 
rational and abhorrent. In one phasis it asperses the divine 
goodness ; in another the divine power. One hypothesis rep- 
resents God as allowing evil to appear in the creature only 
that He might display His sovereignty, not in reconciling it 
with good and so affording a basis for His own adequate man- 
ifestation in nature, but in afflicting it with ceaseless torments. 
Surely this is a puerile conception of God which makes him 
capable of ostentation, capable of enjoying a mere empty 
parade of His power. The conception converts Him, in 
fact, into an aggravated bully, intent upon the display of his 
physical prowess. It is groveling and disgusting beyond 
every other product of our sensuous imagination. It de- 
grades Deity below the brute even. For the tiger makes no 
sacrifice to ostentation. He inflicts no suffering in demon- 
stration of his power and the consequent gratification of his 
vanity, but only in satisfaction of an honest natural appetite. 
If accordingly, this hypothesis of creation were just, moral 
distinctions w T ould be seen to claim a basis in God's want of 
love, in his inferiority to tigers. 

The other hypothesis attributes evil to a defect, not of the 
divine goodness, but of the divine power. It represents God 
as designing to make man morally good. But as moral good 
is in its very nature finite or conditional, as it is conditioned 
upon the inseparable co-existence of moral evil, so God, how- 
ever much He may desire it, is practically unable to keep 
evil out of the universe. From the nature of the case, from 
the nature of the good He designs to bestow, He can not 
make one man good without making another evil. Hence 
you perceive that evil stalks into creation in spite of God, 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 115 

being involved in the good He would create. The only way, 
consequently, in which He might exclude it, would be to 
forego His creative design altogether. For His design being 
to create moral good, and moral good standing in the insepa- 
rable antagonism of moral evil, in effect or practically His 
design is to create the one as much as the other. 

We may, indeed, represent the evil man as so much inevi- 
table chips, or waste material ; but we gain nothing by this 
notion. For is not he always esteemed an imperfect work- 
man who leaves chips behind him, who can not work with- 
out a shocking waste of material ? Our divines see fit, indeed, 
to blink all these monstrous contradictions, and doubtless 
they have a reward. But is it not gratuitous in them to go 
further than this, and represent the Deity not merely as mak- 
ing chips, but also as vindictively bestowing an everlasting 
vitality on these chips in order to their never-ending com- 
bustion? 

According to this hypothesis, then, you perceive that moral 
distinctions among men grow out of a defect in the divine 
power. The former hypothesis attributes them to a defect 
of God's goodness, or an inferiority of His internal endow- 
ments. The latter attributes them to a defect of his power 
or an inferiority of his external endowments. Each proceeds 
upon an implication of His imperfection, and hence they are 
both alike intrinsically absurd and blasphemous." 

You ask, " If this doctrine of evil does not also imply some 
■defect in the original plan ?" Does it not involve the attri- 
butes of the Creator ? Could He not have made creation 
perfect at once, and set man on the path of happiness, pre- 
venting all the misery and trouble in the world ? These 
questions, my friends, are wholly unanswerable on the church 
theory of God and his method of creating. But the Harmo- 
nial Philosophy finds no inconsistence or perplexity in these 
questions ; because it does not admit any such a thing as 



116 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

" creation" in the popular definition of the term. The Deity, 
considered in the creative capacity, is a divine heart in the 
universe ; a principle of love and wisdom, which is immuta- 
ble and invariable. He is himself controlled by those princi- 
ples which spontaneously flow from his inexhaustible being 
into and through infinitude. He does not create worlds, and 
then day by day labor with his hands, or by a prodigious ex- 
ercise of spiritual volition, make trees, birds, animals, and 
man ; but, on the contrary, just as the blood flows through 
the human body, forming bone and muscle in the system at 
all points and extremities, so the unchangeable principles of 
Association, Progression, and Development flow forth from 
the deific Heart of the Universe, unfolding worlds, like 
flowers, and progressively developing the various forms which 
animate their surfaces. If the All-pervading Spirit was merely 
a sovereign, somewhere outside of the material and spiritual 
universe, then it would become a troublesome question to 
reconcile imperfection with perfection, as all Christian schol- 
ars invariably discover and acknowledge. But when we 
come to see, by investigating the works and ways of the Ac- 
tuating Principle, that Progress is a law of existence, and 
that development follows it as a natural sequence ; then we 
easily recognize that the Moving Spirit is as much under the 
regulations of certain principles as the brain, the organ of 
man's mind, and even the mind itself, are controlled by laws 
that are " without variableness neither shadow of turning." 

But you ask me another question : " If the All-pervading 
Spirit is intrinsically good and perfect, how became man, the 
effect, so inclined to create and perpetuate evil ?" The reply 
is manifestly very simple and self-evident. Evil is not a 
reality ; it is Ignorance. What is termed " evil" disappears 
in proportion as knoivledge increases. Barbarism is sup- 
planted by civilization. Wild animals become extinct as 
humanity spreads its wings over the territories of nature. I 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS- 117 

deny, therefore, that positive " evil" exists any where in the 
universe. A good thing, through ignorance, may be improp- 
erly used. The law of combustion, by which fire is pro- 
duced, is a source of great comfort and immense advantages 
to the human family. But the first man who came in con- 
tact with the element, was burned, and thus he cursed and 
vilified the fire ; because, merely, he was ignorant of the or- 
ganic laws of his being, and ignorant also of the science of 
controlling and converting fire into a useful agent. Suppose, 
to continue illustrating, an engineer should construct a ma- 
chine for some wise and beneficial purpose. If judiciously 
managed, it will produce exceedingly good results. But an 
ignorant man, not comprehending the nature and use of the 
mechanism, sets it in motion, gets involved in the wheels, and 
is sadly wounded or crushed to death. What shall we say ? 
Shall we condemn the invention ? Shall we execrate the 
engineer, and hold him morally responsible ? Shall we blame 
any thing or any body ? God forbid. If we are reasonable, 
we must say, It was owing to the ignorance of the man 
which caused the good mechanism to do a disastrous work. 
Now, the laws which control the moral world are just as per- 
fect and positive as the laws of the physical world. Truth, 
love, friendship, ambition, &c, are each capable, under 
wrong development and management,* of developing dis- 
cords of various kinds and degrees. Each man carries in 
his heart the elements of an angel ; these life-principles are 
intrinsically good and perfect ; but we see the vicious habi- 
tudes thereof only when, from ignorance or causes growing 
directly or indirectly out of ignorance and defective moral 
sensibilities, those indwelling principles are subverted and 
misdirected in their manifestation upon relative personalities 
and contiguous interests. Anger, cupidity, malice, revenge, 
licentiousness, hypocrisy, &c, are not immanent or residing 

* See chapter on Moral Cultivation, in Great Harmonia, Vol. II. 



118 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS 



# 



in the constitution of mind. They are the wrong development, 
the wrong management and exercise of intrinsically good and, 
ultimately to be, angelic principles. Look at intemperance. 
It would not require much insight to trace the origin of this 
evil. It frequently occurs that a working-man, chained from 
day to day to a repugnant and monotonous labor, seeks dis- 
traction and alleviation in various ways. Lest his life should 
be a continuous burden and punishment, he seeks alcohol; 
because he finds in drunkenness a temporary relief from his 
cares, accompanied with an agreeable excitement. Soon it 
becomes his master, and he has no individual power to resist 
the temptation. A different social construction, making, as a 
general principle, every man's life happy, his future certain, 
his labors agreeable and various, would successfully sweep 
intemperance and licentiousness from the earth. Every 
man, as I read the human heart, has an indwelling disposi- 
tion toward ease and luxury ; which, when the individual is 
on the sensuous plane of existence, — having perhaps much 
knowing power or intellect, but little restraining power or 
moral sensibilities, — is almost certain, in this transitional state 
of civilization, to manifest itself in theft or burglary. Be- 
trayed love begets or originates jealousy, which may lead to 
murder ; disappointed ambition and love of power originate 
war : a wounded feeling originates anger. 

The origin of evil, my friends, is not a historical and 
theological question ; but a present and practical problem to 
solve, with an eye to its successful prevention. 

Hark ! Do you hear that multitude of voices ? Do you 
see those prayers ascending ? There are arising, from no 
less than thirty thousand American pulpits, these words — or 
words which imply their signification : " Our Father, who 
art in heaven, — thy kingdom come ; thy vjill be done on earth 
as it is in heaven !" Now does the church do any thing 
toward establishing this kingdom on earth ? Does it insti- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 119 

tute practical measures to bring happiness among men ? 
Does it do any thing conspicuously toward the banishment 
of oppression and crime ? No ! But it sends forth wordy 
invocations to heaven — long and loud prayers to God, that 
his harmonious kingdom might come on earth. 

What was it that refreshed all New York city ? What 
saved the inhabitants from fearful fevers and epidemics ? 
What introduced the greatest blessings into and through 
that extensive city ? Was it prayers ? Was it invocations 
to the living God? It was the energy, and enterprise, and 
intelligence of her citizens that " smote the desert rock," and 
caused to flow, into the darkest recesses and loftiest dwell- 
ings, the pure and healthy water. So likewise, this human 
world will come to see that praying and sermonizing will 
never refresh and cleanse the moral condition of man, and 
unfold the " kingdom of heaven" on earth ; but it will come 
to be seen that ail this, and more than this, will be yet ac- 
complished through the progressive development and well- 
directed energy of the human soul. 

The Church, I repeat, is constantly praying for the will of 
God to be "done on earth as it is in heaven," — that is to 
say, that the laws of God be as much obeyed in this sphere 
as they are in the spheres above. But, friends, I am im- 
pressed to say that we should come here to organize our- 
selves into a form, or body, which shall tend to develop this 
harmonious condition in ourselves and in human society. 
We should come here to develop into form and order the 
great fundamental and essential principles of Christianity — 
to make every man a law unto himself, and a doer of right- 
eous deeds. By a living fact, as an illustration, the reader 
will obtain the import of this personal doing of good. 

In an obscure street in the city of B — , there lives an 
honest, simple-hearted mechanic. He belongs to no organi- 
zation, no moral reform association, or temperance society. 



120 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

He has no President to " call him to order," no Secretary to 
" record his movements," no Treasurer to " collect and pre- 
serve" his funds ; and yet that one man has alone and mainly 
unassisted, defended, bailed out of prison, and procured 
healthy employment for about seven hundred criminals and 
licentious men and women. I have met this unpretending 
man on his mission of love to the haunts of vice — to the cell 
of the prisoner, and have asked him, "Who sends you, my 
friend, on this blessed mission ? who directs you how to pro- 
ceed ? who supplies you with the necessary means to accom- 
plish all this good ?" Said he : " Something here (pointing 
to his breast) tells me when to go and what to do ; and when 
I need money, I ask the first apparently rich man I meet for 
it — and then another, and another, and so on ; and I soon 
get all I need."* 

Now, this is the divine principle upon which we should 
come together — the principle which should actuate and 
control all our thoughts, our deeds, and movements. Think 
of it ! Seven hundred vicious and criminal individuals 
saved from a life of bondage and personal degradation, and 
furnished with useful and healthy employment — all by one 
poor, honest-hearted mechanic. And I have heard this man 
say, that, in all his familiarity with these so-called " de- 
praved characters," he has not yet met with one single 
instance of absolute ingratitude, or positive indisposition to 
personal reformation. This is very significant. What, think 
you, is this man's opinion of the human heart ? What view 
does he entertain of man ? My friends, I have heard him 
say, in substance, that he believed the human heart to be 
pure, and man to be capable of endless development in good- 



* My impressions now embrace two individuals in the city of Boston, veritable 
brothers in the field of human suffering — John M. Spear and John Augustus — 
who, in their efforts to be and to do good, are truly examples of what I mean by 
being a law unto ourselves. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 121 

ness ! Who, then, believes in " total depravity ?" The 
answer is too plain ! It is believed and inculcated by the 
multitude of clergymen — by those who never make it their 
business to bail out of prison, and procure employment for, 
seven hundred criminals. 

Most of the evils that afflict the world to-day did not 
originate in the fabled garden of Eden ; nor yet among the 
youthful types of mankind ; but they spring out of ignorance, 
out of defective social and religious institutions. For exam- 
ple: one evil in this world, is disease. How did it originate? 
Shall we go to Genesis to inquire ? Shall we seek the in- 
formation from the pulpit ? Nay ; because we find the 
origin of this evil in our very midst. Ignorance leads the 
individual to violate the laws of his being ; by the injudi- 
cious use of food, of sleep, of air, of occupations, &c. ; or, in 
this state of social isolation and unorganized industry, many 
persons are constrained to engage in labors which daily vio- 
late nature and generate disease. Licentiousness, or incon- 
stancy, is another evil in present society. How does it 
originate ? Is it a supernatural sin ? Is it an evil ? Ac- 
cording to my impressions, the domestic discords, arising 
from this cause, could — and in the future will — all be pre- 
vented by congenial marriage relations. But why not 
prevent the evil which grows out of these relations to-day ? 
Do you hesitate because you are all totally depraved ? Far 
from it. Every man, who has progressed to the moral scale 
of feeling, yearns to eradicate it at once. But ignorance of 
human nature, — ignorance of the principles and attractions 
of the human mind, — stand between you and the institution 
of a proper marriage. But inconstancy, or love of change, 
when properly and philosophically understood, does not at 
all apply to the institution of marriage, or to the conjugal 
affections ; in this sphere it is seen in its subversive or mis- 
directed attitude, — giving results, like the wrongly used 



122 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

mechanism, which seem evil and disastrous to human happi- 
ness. Every man has a disposition to alternate the exercise 
of his physical and mental faculties. This is a wise and 
good inclination ; because it maintains health and a proper 
equilibrium in both body and mind ; and this is the proper 
sphere for the manifestation of inconstancy by alternating 
employments. Hence the evil of licentiousness is easily 
traced to its origin. To my mind all excesses are vicious 
— that is, injurious and hurtful to man and society — whether 
in individuals or institutions. It is an easy thing to sit in 
judgment upon our neighbors, as clergymen presumptuously 
preach against and vilify mankind ; but it is quite another 
thing to be on the throne of wisdom, and to judge with a 
righteous judgment — not from appearances, but from truths ! 
You ask : " Does not this philosophy of evil relieve the in- 
dividual of moral responsibility ?" Mankind, I reply, are as a 
family, in which diverse inclinations and opinions are con- 
stantly manifested — one against the other. All discords are 
traceable to society ; because, without association, there could 
not be any war, any theft, or cupidity, as now evidently flow 
from the contact of relative tastes and situations. If asso- 
ciation is the cause of individual disturbances, association 
must furnish the cure. The individual finds himself, after 
attaining to the years or period of discretion, (?) placed be- 
tween two antagonistic forces : the discordant laws of soci- 
ety, and the harmoniously imperative Laws of Nature ! The 
former constrain him ; the latter yield him liberty, ease, and 
happiness. As to the extent to which the individual should 
be held morally responsible by society for his deeds, is an 
arbitrary question, which the highest wisdom and benevo- 
lence of every Age will and must decide for its own special 
regulation or government. Our duty surely is to study 
man. This is the commencement of wisdom, and the vesti- 
bule of a temple of truth ; whose vast interior and divine 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 123 

possessions may occupy your spirits for countless ages The 
more we study man, the more certain will it become that 
there is no positive evil in existence ; only the local disturb- 
ances and social imperfections which are consequent upon 
a progressive system of human development in minds and 
morals. " Then," you inquire, " if this be true, how shall 
we rebuke evils and remove misdirections ?" Plainly ; you 
who have outgrown the causes of discord should teach others 
how to follow your example, and help them to do so. This 
effort to remove evil, however, when confined to the indi- 
vidual power of accomplishment, will not work out one- 
tenth of the good which would be an easy result of organiza- 
tion. One individual can not vote influentially unless he 
belongs to a combination. Hence, on this principle, all 
merely individual efforts to cure great evils will be little ; 
whilst an associative movement, or a combination of indi- 
vidual forces, is certain to achieve greater and more perma- 
nent results. These are common-place aphorisms ; but 
clergymen, in their sermons, generally neglect them ; and 
denounce the individual as willfully sinful and degenerate ! 

Those who have progressed above the present semi- 
civilized and transitional stage of human society, — which 
produces or nourishes the fungus productions, termed ortho- 
dox theology and supernaturalistic Christianity, — should 
openly avow the new truths manifested to their vision, and 
teach the people also how to ascend the glorious eminence 
of religious and spiritual freedom. Among the numerous 
reasons why we are moved to free our minds of the existing 
forms and institutions of supernaturalistic theology, are the 
following : 

It assumes to be — or to possess within its organization and 
cardinal doctrines — the medium or totality of inspiration ; 
and arrogantly proclaims itself to be the supreme and sove- 
reign authority. It arbitrarily determines upon what book, 



124 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

or what peculiar combination of books, we shall revere as 
the " Word of God ;" and then denies to us the right of ex- 
ercising the same amount of intellectual, moral, and religious 
liberty. It describes the circle in which we shall move, and 
think, and reason ; and then authoritatively and dogmati- 
cally denies to us the moral or religious freedom to advance 
beyond it. It thus imposes what we conceive to be im- 
proper and demoralizing restrictions upon our thoughts and 
investigations — trammels the progressive development of 
our minds, and peremptorily denies to us the divine privilege 
of free discussion and a free expression of our inward 
sentiments. 

It unites with society in its unphilosophical and unbroth- 
erly treatment of the criminal, and of the unfortunate victim 
of crime ; and it (that is, popular Theology) sanctions the 
old barbarian or Mosaic law of Capital Punishment. 

It justifies society in the perpetuation of personal and 
national animosities and antagonisms. It permits war, con- 
fiscation of property, and carnage ; and it assists to promote 
successful military chieftains — without regard either to merit 
or demerit — to the responsible position of emperors and 
governors. 

It sanctions the monarchical despotism of monopolies. It 
smiles, with silent approbation, upon the conflict between 
Labor and Capital. It permits the present unjust remunera- 
tion of the toiling millions.* It permits them to live from 
day to day without the least guarantee of a home in case of 
pecuniary adversity or ill health ; and, more than all, it 
openly and emphatically sanctions, by Scripture arguments, 
the dark and fearful sin of human slavery ! 

It deforms and enslaves, but it does not reform and eman- 
cipate the human mind, from the confinements and mourn- 

* These charges apply to no particular section of this country, but, generally 
to all Christendom. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 125 

ful influences of Sectarianism. Its influence is not positive 
and reformatory; but it is merely negatively restraining. It 
opposes almost every measure or movement which originates 
with the people. It engenders melancholy and erroneous 
conceptions of the nature and destiny of man. It keeps up 
a perpetual warfare between the head and the heart. It en- 
courages a gladiatorial struggle against liberty of speech and 
freedom of action. It even opposes temperance reformation, 
unless it originates in the Church ; and uniformly exerts its 
multiform influences, to restrain the progress of social and 
prison reforms, upon identical grounds. 

It generates cupidity and hypocrisy, by teaching our chil- 
dren to regard certain doctrines as truths, which (because 
those doctrines are not true) can not be felt ; but which, 
nevertheless, are frequently manifested with all the show of 
confidence in their validity. This leads directly to practical 
dissimulation and deceit. Many persons are in the constant 
practice of exhibiting piety, who, at the same time, do not 
(because they can not) feel such piety to be sacred truth ; 
and this apparently willful hypocrisy on the part of some 
individuals, leads directly to the theological assumption — an 
assumption which has retarded human progress for ages — 
that the heart of man is desperately wicked and depraved 
by nature. 

It instills dark and unwholesome thoughts into the minds 
of our children. It teaches them to believe in the most soul- 
revolting doctrines. They are educated to consider them- 
selves as " totally depraved" — and as being under the " curse" 
of the living God. It teaches them to regard themselves as 
evil, and " sinners" by nature ; and as incapable of being 
good and heaven-worthy, independent of the Bible and the 
Church. They are taught to believe in a " God of Love," 
who, at the same time, encourages hate ; and in a " God of 
Heaven," who, at the same time, permits the everlasting 



126 THE APPROACHING CRISIS.* 

duration of Hell ! Thus our youth become intellectually 
contaminated by the existing methods of religious education ; 
and, when they advance in years, and become men and 
women, either they become bigots and sectarians, or else 
skeptics and misanthropes. A sadness and gloom are conse- 
quently thrown over our minds ; and we deprive ourselves 
and our children of a large proportion of that enjoyment 
and progressive happiness which are the inalienable rights 
of man ! 

It asserts this whole world of human beings to be under 
an Adamic curse or condemnation. It has most dogmati- 
cally pronounced, and still continues to assert it, that all the 
sorrows, and perplexities, and vicissitudes, and trials, and 
discords, and diseases, and all the afflictions of this mundane 
state, are expressly sent by the living God to punish man for 
his alledged manifold transgressions ! And it has openly 
opposed every medical reform, every social improvement, 
every benevolent design, upon the fabulous ground that such 
mortal attempts were wicked, and would prove unavailing, 
because they were in opposition to the " will" and punish- 
ment of God. It trammels the progress and advancement 
of mankind, by teaching our children and our communities 
to believe the erroneous and baneful doctrine, that no im- 
provement or reformation can be permanently accomplished, 
except through the so-called " divine" instrumentalities and 
multifarious restrictions and principles of the established 
Church. 

It strives to awaken in our minds what we consider to be 
imaginary compunctions of conscience. It imposes what 
we conceive to be unnecessary and deforming " trials" upon 
us ; and causes us to " crucify" ourselves, and " bear crosses" 
that are wholly unnatural and wrong. We therefore feel 
that it has defrauded us, and the generations that are gone, 
of two-thirds of the real happiness and mental consolations 



tiIe approaching crisis. 127 

which we solemnly believe to be ours, according to the laws 
of the human constitution and the universal Providence 
of God ! 

It dogmatically asserts Nature, and Reason, and Con- 
science even, to be subordinate to ecclesiastical authority. 
It inculcates the baneful doctrine that our very heart- 
impulses are naturally sinful and opposed to the " will of 
God." Here again it creates a false issue between the 
heart and the head ; and thus it has been the sole cause of 
impelling many minds into sad and hopeless insanity. It 
sheds a melancholy, dismal gloom over our families, our 
homes, and the nations of the civilized world. It renders 
this life a dark, and toilsome, and uncertain gift of God ; 
and, with its clouds of ignorance and superstition, it darkens 
our thoughts and anticipations of the other life. When our 
friends resign their material forms to the grave, then this 
supernaturalistic Theology fills our hearts with sadness, and 
our minds with distressing doubts, concerning their future 
welfare and eternal happiness. And thus it spreads gloom, 
and disconsolation, and suicidal melancholy, and insane 
despair, and mental misery, where joy, and cheerfulness, and 
righteousness, and happiness, should and might exist in 
abundance. 

I have affirmed that there is no Positive Evil in existence. 
Now, what evidence have we that this statement is true ? 
The evidence, I reply, is universal. There is more harmony 
than discord ; more heat than cold ; more light than dark- 
ness ; more peace than war ; more order than confusion. 
Of this I shall speak hereafter. But the fact that there is 
nothing absolutely devoid of goodness — that every thing is 
overruled for good in the end — stands as a pyramidal demon- 
stration of the negational or temporary nature of what we 
term sin or evil. According to the light which I receive on 
these questions, every thing that ever occurred has aecom- 



128 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

plished some good end, — yea, always more good than evil. 
Death is a terrible visitation, that is, to all external appear- 
ance ; but the individual is truly born again. Just above a 
sharp thorn, the bud bursts open, and a flower unfolds. So 
every sorrow embosoms a joy — every grief is accompanied 
by some beneficent provision to mitigate its intensity, and 
secure a good result. Wars have at last turned in favor of 
human freedom. Family or local troubles have been greatly 
diminished by the art of war. But now, these vestiges of a 
protracted night of barbarian ignorance and patriarchal 
error, are, one by one, melting, like the ice that fetters the 
spring-time rivulets, and all will soon be converted into a 
mighty ocean of never-ebbing peace. The morning sun 
shines out over the kindling skies of the horizon ; the millen- 
nial era is imperceptibly stealing over the world. The night 
has been eventful. Men have groped their way in darkness. 
Horrid dreams have flitted across the sleeper's mind; and 
moral shepherds have hailed them as the reflections of some 
disturbed and offended Divinity. But the chilliness and 
darkness of the night gradually subside, and a new dispensa- 
tion sheds its celestial rays, kindling with richness and wis- 
dom, over the slumbering millions ; and, lo ! as the spring 
day dissipates the mists and gloom of winter, so " old things 
pass away, and all things become NEW." Errors, like the 
shadows of escaping clouds, will disappear when the " Sun 
of Righteousness" — of wisdom, truth, and brotherly love — - 
shall send its all-searching light and healing warmth into 
their midst. Will you not, then, take a higher position in 
the moral grades of the spiritual universe ? I know you 
will. Like the eccentric comets, men primarily pursue 
strange paths in their revolutions around the Central Source 
of Right. But all truth is analogous — all principles immu- 
table. Therefore, just as certain as the comet finally 
becomes a beautiful planet, and rolls harmoniously in the 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 129 

orbit of order ; so certainly will humanity eventually glide 
into the sphere of harmony and into the paths of eternal 
rectitude. 

Humanity may be viewed from two positions : one affords 
pleasure, the other confusion ; one yields us a true estimate 
of the whole human family ; the other, distracts our sympa- 
thies and seems to substantiate the theological theory of 
man's fallen nature. 

The best Christian scholars obtain their worst impressions 
of man-by constantly viewing him from unfavorable positions 
and in the most incongruous lights ; whilst the rationalistic 
philosophers, having obtained more expanded and reasonable 
conceptions of things, contemplate the human family with 
increasing satisfaction. It may be illustrated by supposing 
two individuals going forth to examine a landscape. One 
takes his position at a point of observation from which the 
eye can survey the entire combination of objects, trees, rocks, 
flowers, mounds, mountains, lights, and shades, which serve 
to constitute the most captivating exhibition of beautiful 
scenery. The other, places himself in immediate contact with 
the constituents of the scene. We may now suppose that 
these individuals enter into conversation, through the agency 
of speaking trumpets, and commence describing what each 
actually observes and enjoys. The man from the distance, 
hailing the other who is in direct connection with the scene, 
asks : " What do you see ?" He replies, " Oh, such discord 
and trouble ! I wish myself away !" •'' What, from that 
charming prospect ?" exclaims the man in the distance. 
" Indeed, I do," responds the other, " I can not advance a 
single step without wounding my limbs and lacerating my 
feet. Insurmountable rocks present themselves ; and the 
narrow pass is overgrown with poisonous weeds and thorny 
vines. Rough and angular shapes are visible all around. 
When I look up, I can scarcely see the sunlight — so dense 

9 



130 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

and gloomy is the foliage. Even the birds have forsaken this 
dismal retreat. And the ravines seem so dark and miry, I 
think the serpents brood therein." 

The other observer, not appreciating the troubles his friend 
thus enumerates, asks : " Do you not see any beautiful 
flowers growing along the path, and musical streamlets leap- 
ing through the thicket." 

" O, now that you speak of them, I confess I do," responds 
the friend ; " but I can not enjoy any thing — my flesh is 
wounded, and my spirit is fatigued and repelled, by the con- 
stant effort to surmount craggy acclivities and thorny prom- 
ontories. I will seat myself in this gloomy place, — though I 
much tremble to remain, — while you describe this repulsive 
scene as it appears to you from your stand-point." 

We may now suppose the man in the distance replying 
thus : " Taking, as I do, a free and comprehensive view of 
the whole — made up, as it undoubtedly is, of the parts which 
you have just described — I must confess that I never beheld 
a more perfect exhibition of harmonious beauty. The parts 
may be exceedingly roughly hewn ; but, to the over- seeing 
eye, the whole displays design, order, proportion, and variety. 
The dense foliage seems like swelling waves of green, about 
to burst from surplus life. The craggy rocks lend a variation 
and strength to the scene ; while the topmost boughs of the 
stalwart oaks, just catching the rays of the rising sun, shed 
forth a subdued light over the surrounding objects ; which no 
pencil can impart to canvas, or language describe. Do not, — 
I pray thee, — do not condemn the parts when they are so 
manifestly essential to the final development of an harmo- 
nious Whole /" 

So the case stands to-day between rationalists and super- 
naturalists. The former view humanity from a position 
which enables them to tolerate, to love, to protect, yea to ad- 
mire, the parts or the Individuals, for the sake of the variety 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 131 

and grandeur of the whole ; while the latter — the clergymen 
of Christendom and their followers — knowing comparatively 
nothing of the grand scheme of existence, devote themselves 
to the defamation and classical execration of the minor par- 
ticulars as the only method of altering the entire body to suit 
the expression they think it should wear. What would you 
think of an intelligent merchant tailor who had come to the 
popular clerical conclusion, that one pattern was truly ortho- 
dox ; and insists that every body should wear the established size 
and shaped garment and no other ? What would you say r 
Would you alter your body to suit the pattern ? Or, the 
pattern to suit your body ? " The latter, of course," you 
reply. Now, the supernaturalists say, that all should and 
shall wear their pattern. And all the trouble there is, between 
the pulpit and the people, arises from the theological cutting 
and carving of individuals in order to make the one orthodox 
pattern suit all degrees and shades of mind. 

But Humanity is a Tree. Its roots begin far down in the 
constitution of Nature, where the Germ was originally de- 
posited. It commenced its upward growth many ages since. 
It grew onward in straight lines, until the period arrived for 
the putting forth of diverse branches. The lowest limbs were 
gigantic, replete with thorny projections, reaching far out 
into the air, casting deep shades on the earth. But the 
branches become smaller, and more beautiful, as the pro- 
gression of refinement increases. The tree is not yet fully 
developed. But already the birds of heaven alight on its 
highest boughs, and the beams of the rising Sun — the bright 
herald of the approaching crisis — illuminate those tiny leaves, 
which, tremblingly, unfold their receptive vessels and lay 
their faces against the firmament. 



FOURTH REVIEW. 



In the present discussion, it is deemed proper to define 
the 'position which I at present occupy respecting it. My 
posture is that of a reviewer and spectator. A master- 
builder is now engaged in constructing a theological fabric. 
My business is to observe the process ; to see whether any 
new principles of ethnological architecture are truly de- 
veloped ; to observe the timbers of thought as they are one 
by one adjusted ; to see whether the materials are sound and 
skillfully prepared ; and to ascertain what the structure is 
good for when completed. You will, therefore, perceive that 
I am not now at liberty to turn away, as my soul truly yearns 
to do, and unfold, to your mental vision and appreciation, the 
" house not made with hands," wherein reside the immortal 
truths and eternal revelations of the living God. But I must, 
as in the capacity of humanity's advocate, devote my present 
moments to a critical inspection of the somewhat new form 
of Conservatism which Dr. Bushnell is now giving birth to — 
or the new theologic fabric which he is now erecting — on the 
old supernatural foundation. 

" Know thyself, presume not God to sean ; 
The proper study of mankind is man." 

On the broad, democratic, and rationalistic principle that "all 
scripture is given by inspiration," I am moved to select the fore- 
going passage according to the inspiration of Alexander Pope. 

This text requires no expounding ; only a practical appli- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 133 

cation. It comes to me, on this occasion, as being highly 
applicable to you all in general, and to the champions of Su- 
pernaturalism in particular. It is not necessary for me to 
undertake to convince you of the immense value of personal 
knowledge ; to persuade you that moral and intellectual 
powers are proportionate to education ; or, that ignorance is 
the parent of what men term "sin" and misery. These are 
familiar facts ; requiring no argument ; suggesting no con- 
troversy. I will, therefore, proceed presently to show why 
this text is particularly applicable to supernaturalists. 

The fourth lecture of the course, on supernaturalism, as 

opposed to naturalism, was delivered by Dr. B . on last 

Sabbath evening. His text was taken from the twentieth 
verse of the eighth chapter of Romans — as follows : " For the 
creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by 
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope." 

The Lecturer considered this passage, when taken in con- 
nection with the brace of verses on either side of it, to em- 
body the whole statement of man's relations and abandonment 
to the various kinds and degrees of sin, and also to the super- 
natural system of redemption, which God had introduced into 
this world for man's especial benefit and salvation. 

The Lecturer showed himself to be quite at home in his 
profession, as Doctor of Divinity. Because, on announcing 
the text, he referred to the fact, that the passage had puzzled 
nearly all the English commentators as to its true significa- 
tion. In his opinion, the three or four verses in that depart- 
ment of Paul's epistle to the Romans, had not as yet been 
properly apprehended or rendered. Consequently, although 
he presumed not to give the true interior and infallible import, 
yet he doctored the passages to suit his own preconceived 
impressions of truth, and made them read as follows.* 

* It is regarded as non-essential to an understanding of what succeeds, as the 
sequel develops the Lecturer's meaning. 



134 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

For mutual meditation and enlightenment, I am again 
moved to solicit your attention to an inconsistence. Inconsis- 
tences or contradictions should be studiously avoided as evils 
that injure the tone and health of the understanding. I allude 
to the strange idea that fallible texts, or imperfect rendering 
of texts, can be found to exist in a book which is recom- 
mended, and dogmatically forced upon us, as an infallible 
revelation. I must repeat, and pray for an answer to, these 
questions : If the Bible is the perfect word of God, how came 
the above text to be imperfectly translated. Or, if it be ad- 
mitted that Dr. Bushnell rendered the passage for the first 
time correctly, then, I ask, how can we place our faith, t>ur 
hopes, and eternal destiny upon the statements of a book 
which is proved thus to have been giving mankind wrong 
impressions for eighteen centuries ? 

The alteration of meaning is very important. The posi- 
tive or imperative tense, "shall," is removed by a single 
sweep of the pen, and the mere word " may" is substituted, 
which so exceedingly weakens the possibility of man's final 
redemption from sin, that hundreds of human souls — who have 
been long sustained by the supposed positive promise of God 
that sin shall be ultimately subdued and destroyed — have now 
nothing left to think of but disappointment and moral 
despair! Again, I ask, can a fallible translation of a text be 
consistent with an infallible Word ? 

By way of criticism, I am compelled by truth to pronounce 

Dr. B 's last discourse a splendid tirade against, and a 

learned defamation or vilification of, the human character. 
It portrayed the supposed iniquities of the heart of the crea- 
ture-man ; and emitted, at several junctions, multitudes of 
dark, dismal, and denunciatory thoughts. The Lecturer is 
truly a bold advocate of theological horrors and dogmatism. 
He thinks man is endowed with the will-power to be an 
eternal enemy, (if he so desires and determines,) to the living 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 135 

God, and to his moral government. Man, he affirms, is super- 
natural, because he can overcome mechanical force, and act 
outside of, or superior to, the natural system of cause and 
effect From the mythologic eminence of supernaturalism, 
he vociferated the church cries against those who dare openly 
prefer the authoritative promptings of nature to the dicta 
of dogmatic creeds. It is now manifest what description of 
conservatism this modern Luther is at present destined to 
generate, and possibly to establish. It is composed of the 
following ingredients : Calvinism and Arminianism in equal 
parts ; a small portion of the conciliatory system of Richard 
Baxter, who had the celebrated Drs. Watts and Doddridge 
for disciples ; a very little originality of thought ; a slight 
proportion of Swedenborgianism ; and about the same quan- 
tity of Rationalism, which, being literally interpreted, signifies 
an understanding of things as they are. 

The paradoxical character of this compound renders some 
explanation necessary. Although it is truly believed, that 
when the various forms and shades of human credulity, in 
supernatural mysteries, are carefully weighed, contrasted, and 
compared, the existing differences between popular creeds 
will greatly recede from view; the principal troubles and 
disputes among the clergy, concerning what creed, or par- 
ticular shade of faith, is the most orthodox and infallible, will 
then appear as confounding and astounding only to those 
who ean not readily comprehend the undeviating action of 
psychological principles upon human beings.* The resem- 
blance of Dr. B — — 's philosophico-supernaturalism to the 
chief doctrines of Calvinism and Arminianism, is visible only 
in the original modification of the old church formulas, which 
is occasionally attempted at various points of the discussion, 

* The subject here alluded to, receives very particular attejvtion iu the Great 
Ilarmonia, Vol. IIL, entitied " The Seer," soon to succeed this work. See the 
chapters, showing the action of psychological laws among religious chieftains. 



136 THE APPROACHING CRISIS, 

Very many Protestants will find their condition typified by 
the mental exhibitions of the mind under present review. 
He indicates a strange independence. Socinus, himself, never 
attempted the reformation of church dogmas with more ardor, 
or never so conspicuously failed to accomplish a recon- 
ciliation of differences among his own people. He evidently 
has tasted of the fruit of the knowledge-tree, and feels dis- 
posed to reject the cardinal mysteries of the Christian faith, 
as held by other denominations ; but he places new incom- 
prehensibilities before the people, in his rationalistic effort to 
manifest the doctrine, that the mission of Christ was designed 
only to introduce a new moral law, distinguished from all 
preceding laws by its superior sanctity and perfection. There 
is all the time a manifest proclivity to trace out some hypo- 
thetical coincidence between the dictations of Reason and the 
dogmas of supernaturalism. Now the mind, thus striving to 
act natural and unnatural at the same time, one moment 
affirms its determination to subject all religious doctrines to 
the test of Nature and judgment ; but, even before the sen- 
tence, containing this affirmation, is concluded, there comes 
forth the confounding ideal statement, that in Jesus dwelt the 
fullness of the Father — enjoying universal power of the 
church in heaven and in earth ; that, with logical propriety, 
the Incarnation being thus perfect, may be termed "God in 
Christ ;" and yet, a mental reaction succeeds this, and a 
peculiar combination of words changes ail the foregoing into 
something like the doctrines of Unitarianism — implying, that 
Jesus was a certain modified impersonation of the divine 
spirit of love and energy — which considers a similitude or 
assimilation of the human character to that unfolded by Jesus 
as equivalent to the all-important Salvation, which other de- 
nominations hold to, but with far more startling interpreta- 
tions attached to the term. 

The desire to develop a reasonable basis for the everlasting 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 137 

support of supernaturalistic doctrines, urged Dr. B . some- 
what unconsciously, I think, into the Swedenborgian method 
of interpreting the Word. The spiritual relations of Christ 
to God and to man, appear also slightly tinged by the New 
Church Doctrines. On this point the New Jerusalem creed, 
article second, is explicit. It states that — " Jehovah God 
himself descended from Heaven, as Divine Truth, which is 
the Word, and took upon him Human Nature for the purpose 
of removing from man the powers of hell, and restoring to 
order all things in the spiritual world, and all things in the 
church : that he removed from man the powers of hell, by 
combats against and victories over them ; in which consisted 
the great work of Redemption : that by the same acts, which 
were his temptations, the last of which was the passion of the 
cross, he united, in his Humanity, Divine Truth to Divine 
Good, or Divine Wisdom to Divine Love, and so returned 
into his Divinity in which he was from eternity, together 
with, and in, his Glorified Humanity ; whence he forever 
keeps the infernal powers in subjection to himself: and that 
all who believe in him, with the understanding, from the 
heart, and live accordingly, will be saved." 

The affirmations of the Lecturer concerning the possibility 
of evil, as incident to the creation of man, and as beyond the 
power of God to prevent in a realm of free moral powers, 
may be found, differently stated, in the following Sweden- 
borgian article of faith : " That the government of the Lord's 
Divine Love and Wisdom is the Divine Providence ; which 
is universal, exercised according to certain fixed laws of 
Order, and extending to the minutest particulars of the life 
of all men, both of the good and of the evil : that in all its 
operations it has respect to what is infinite and eternal, and 
makes no account of things transitory, but as they are sub- 
servient, to eternal ends ; thus that it mainly consists, with 
man, in the connection of things temporal with things eter- 



138 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

nal ; for that the continual aim of the Lord, by his Divine 
Providence, is to join man to himself and himself to man, 
that he may be able to give him the felicities of eternal life : 
and that the laws of permission are also laws of the Divine 
Providence ; since evil can not be prevented without de- 
stroying the nature of man as an accountable agent ; and 
because, also, it can not be removed unless it be known, and 
can not be known unless it appear : thus that no evil is per- 
mitted but to prevent a greater ; and all is overruled, by the 
Lord's Divine Providence, for the greatest possible good." 

The resemblance of Dr. B 's assertions, respecting the 

visitation of good and evil spirits to man, is very well estab- 
lished in Swedenborg's affirmations, " that man, during his 
abode in the world, is, as to his spirit, in the midst between 
heaven and hell, acted upon by influences from both ; and 
thus is kept in a state of spiritual equilibrium between good 
and evil ; in consequence of which he enjoys free will, or 
freedom of choice, in spiritual things as well as in natural, 
and possesses the capacity of either turning himself to the 
Lord and his kingdom, or turning himself away from the 
Lord, and connecting himself with the kingdom of darkness ; 
and that, unless man had such freedom of choice, the Word 
would be of no use, the church would be a mere name, man 
would possess nothing by virtue of which he could be enjoined 
to the Lord, and the cause of evil would be chargeable on 
God himself." 

Nor does the similitude cease here. Swedenborg also 
generalized the evils of the world — all the sins against God 
and all infernal spirits ; which, when combined and estimated 
in the aggregate, he termed " the devil." This, as we have 

seen, is Dr. B 's latest improvement in this oriental myth. 

But the doctrine is capable of still further amendment. 

On another head, as to the future good and evil conse- 
quences of the character, which men establish for themselves 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 139 

in this life, Dr. B ., in substance, stated the Sweden- 

borgian doctrine, " that immediately after death, which is 
only a putting off of the material body, never to be resumed, 
man rises again in a spiritual or substantial body, in which 
he continues to live to eternity ; in heaven, if his ruling affec- 
tions, and thence his life, have been good ; and in hell, if his 
ruling affections, and thence his life, have been evil." 

The similar appearance of the quantity of Rationalism, 
referred to as entering into his conservatism, is discoverable, 

only, in the very equivocal use which Dr. B . makes of 

the faculty of Reason, as a power, through which to obtain 
and establish a philosophical basis upon which to rest the 
doctrines of supernaturalism. Such are »the signs of the 
times. The waters are disturbed, and the storm is hovering 
nigh. The old church is dying, — dying from the internal con- 
vulsions accompanying the approaching crisis of a chronic 
disorder, slumbering in the vitals of ecclesiasticism, — a dis- 
ease which I am impressed to term, " Error !" The result 
is certain as the approach of spring. 

* That Dr. B . has a perfect right to alter and transpose 

passages of Scripture to suit the foregone conclusions of his 
own mind, is indisputable. All reasonable and educated 
persons — that is to say, all Naturalists and skeptics, so-called 
— take the same dignified liberties with the Bible. But what 
we object to, is this : that such liberties should be taken by 
clergymen with a Book, which is universally believed and re- 
commended by them to be the perfect and unalterable Reve- 
lation of God's will and promises. The Lecturer paraphrased 
the already specified text, and then proceeded to say, that in 
his " previous discourse he had drawn out or sketched the 
supernatural system of God ; which was shown to be a realm 
of powers not governed by mere cause and effect, not by 
mechanical force, but by the free-will or consent of the in- 
habitants of that realm." He thought that that lecture was 



14Q THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

a proper stepping-stone to the general subject of " evil" or 
"sin," as bodied forth in the present comprehensive text. 
His last discourse, therefore, was devoted principally to a 
demonstration of the positive existence of sin ; to prove that 
man, by the exercise of his supernatural power, is the chief 
source of its origin. 

Now, availing myself of the example and conceded liberty 
of paraphrasing a text of Scripture, in order to render the 
meaning more transparent, I will transfer the passage in Paul 
to an expression of Dr. B 's extraordinary theory. 

God, in creating "powers" or free moral agents, was envi- 
roned, not willingly, but as a necessary incident to man's 
creation, with the tremendous " possibility" of evil. There- 
fore, although God did not will or desire it, yet he was com- 
pelled, by the exigences of the case, to subject all mankind to 
vanity and to the disciplining vicissitudes of evil. This pos- 
sibility of having trouble in his moral government, God could 
not prevent, and at the same time secure to man the uncon- 
trolled exercise of his will or moral freedom. Consequently, 
the Deity unwillingly submitted the whole human family to 
the trials and temptations of sin, indulging the forlorn " hope'" 
the while that man would see fit to exercise his supernatural 
will-power in the right direction ; and, thus, be ultimately 
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God ! Behold ! how emphatically 
and demonstratively the revelations of St. Paul prove that 

Dr. B . is a true exponent of the great doctrine of su- 

pernaturalism ! 

The Lecturer said it might appear unnecessary to undertake 
to prove the existence of evil ; but he deemed it indispensable 
to his argument, to demonstrate that sin is really in the world. 
Rationalists, he said, generally denied the existence of sin ; 
and, therefore, as this subject was an open question, he would 
proceed to prove that sin is a tremendous and fearful reality. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 141 

In this connection it may be remarked, that the Lecturer 
did not prove — which he logically and historically endeavored 
to do — the positive existence of evil. Nor did he give any 
very definite or understandable explanation of the nature of 
sin, as a thing in the world ; except this oft-repeated asser- 
tion, that sin is a supernatural and tremendous reality. You 
will observe, my friends, that there is a vast difference be- 
tween an assertion and a demonstration ; a difference between 
stating a proposition and proving its utter truthfulness. In 
justice to the Lecturer, however, it should be remarked, that 
he did undertake to prove the existence of sin by mere nega- 
tives ; by inferences and implication. As this effort was the 
vital principle of his whole discourse, I will proceed to ex- 
amine his several positions ; which may be summed up as 
follows : He asserted that sin exists — first, because we 
Blame ; second, because we Forgive ; third, because w r e have 
Government ; fourth, because we use Sarcasm; fifth, because 
men write and love Tragedy. That is to say, men instinct- 
ively acknowledge the existence of sin by blaming, forgiving, 
and governing. These things, Dr. B . thought, suffi- 
ciently proved the tremendous reality of sin. The prison, 
the rack, the gallows, the laws, the municipal regulation of 
societies and cities, &c. ; he regarded as so many lofty and 
invulnerable demonstrations of the universal existence of the 
reality of supernatural evil. We blame, he said, because there 
is something which we know deserves to be blamed; we for- 
give because there is wrong which needs forgiveness ; we 
govern the family and society because individuals are dis- 
posed to do wrong from their nature ; all government proves, 
he said, that mankind instinctively confess to the existence of 
a law of right and a tremendous wrong in the world. These 
were the positions assumed by the Lecturer. To a brief ex- 
amination of these theologic propositions, in addition to what 
I have already said, I now solicit your particular attention. 



142 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

Question — -" Is sin a supernatural reality ?" What a 
thought is this ! Dogmatism never suggested a more dismal 
idea; neither mythology a more pernicious doctrine ! How- 
came such a thought in the world ? Was it introduced by 
the friends and students of humanity ? Is it the faith of the 
noble, the creed of the generous, the theory of the wise ? 

Nay ! Dr. B . quoted Theodore Parker, Fourier, Dr. 

Strauss, the author of Festus, and Alexander Pope, as so 
many rationalistic voices in favor of a more benevolent and 
generous doctrine, — not a more generous doctrine to Dr. 
B 's definitions. Far from it. He denounced it as soph- 
istry — as the foolishness of rationalism ; while his faith he 
esteemed as given of God and worthy of all acceptation ! 

Where, then, did Dr. B . obtain this idea of sin ? 

From a careful analysis of man's nature and motives ? Did 
he draw it from the deep wells of human experience ? The 
reply is negative. He obtained it all from a book ; from the 
dicta of old writers ; from the Egyptian darkness of the old 
theology ! He talks learnedly of what God could and could 
not do ; how the Divine Mind was environed with the " pos- 
sibility of evil" before the world began ; how God wills, 
hopes, and executes ; but, of human nature, the Lecturer 
manifested the general ignorance which is characteristic of 
the clergy every where. Surely, upon the walls of the modern 
Zion, an angel should be permitted to stand ; there to pro- 
claim to the clergy of Christendom the text, which I have 
selected from Pope. 

The Lecturer obtained his extraordinary notions of sin from 
the decaying catecombs of oriental theology ; and, having sys- 
tematized the suggestions, he labors diligently to bend, to 
force, and interpret Nature into confirmatory proof of his 
marvelous assertions. This is his method, as it now appears, 
of accomplishing the promised reconciliation between super- 
naturalism and rationalistic theories of religion ! He says, 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 143 

" sin is supernatural." We ask for demonstration. He re- 
plies, because man, the free-power, can act independent of all 
cause and effect — superior to all mechanical force. Again, 
we ask for proof. He says, Nature is bound by the laws of 
necessity. All Things, he asserts, are compelled to exist 
according to the mechanism of cause and effect, and must, 
therefore, move as they are acted upon or instigated ; while 
the Powers, — which are human beings, endowed with a free- 
will or self-determining force, — are capable of acting superior 
to or against the laws of nature, and are, therefore, legiti- 
mately supernatural. Again — I ask, what can man do con- 
trary to the unchangeable laws of Nature ? He replies, man 
can build ships, procure powder, load a pistol and shoot his 
neighbor ; also, he can overcome the law of gravitation by 
raising a book, &c, all of which phenomena are supernatural. 

Here, then, on this foundation, Dr. B . rests his ideas 

of the supernaturalness of sin. 

But in the second review, I adduced several illustrations 
from Nature, showing that volcanoes and coal-mines some- 
times do shoot and destroy people ; showing, also, that 
nature, through the instrumentality and mediation of man's 
mind, plans and constructs ships ; and that a tornado, in its 
mighty strength, overcomes the law of gravitation more ex- 
tensively and perfectly than any human being, notwithstand- 
ing the doctrine of free agency. What, then, is sin ? Dr. 

B . replies : man can lie, and cheat, and steal, and murder ; 

but Nature, which is bound by laws of cause and effect, can 
not do any thing of this kind. To this I answer, that 
Nature, according to this definition, does murder through her 
animals and volcanoes. And it seems that insane or irre- 
sponsible and irrational men will lie, and cheat, and steal at 
times, by following out certain mental caprices and hereditary 
proclivities. Now, I ask : Are these human beings commit- 
ting supernatural sin ? " No"— replies Dr. B . " the su- 



144 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

pernatural sin is committed only when a human being acts, 
knowingly, against the law of Right, or contrary to the moral 
law of God, as was illustrated in the voluntary transgression 
of the first man." Here, then, is the point to settle — Does 
man voluntarily, from the perversity of his own nature and 
will, without any sufficient extraneous cause, violate the 
transparent and known law of Right ? I assert that no man 
does or can do this ; for which assertion I am moved to 
assign the following potential reasons : — 

There is no universally recognized law of God — no univer- 
sally received standard of measurement by which to deter- 
mine right from wrong. This is an important fact, which 

Dr. B . has utterly overlooked in the pending discussion. 

It is because the race has not yet grown to the discovery of 
this universal law, that the world is so exceedingly unsettled 
and discordant as to what Right is. Man, I am impressed 
to say, does not hate the law of Right. He feels its silent 
workings in his undeveloped being, without knowing how to 
interpret and apply it to his life. This universal fact, that all 
men have, or desire to possess, some fixed system of Right, 
is a living protest against the doctrine of total depravity, and 
the Lecturer's definition of sin. The heathen nations have 
moral codes which they hold sacred as the laws of God, 
although these laws may be unjust and barbarous in the 
extreme. 

Before the champion of supernaturalism proves the who'e 
race of man to be subjected to vanity and sin, it is first abso- 
lutely necessary to prove, beyond all controversy, that all 
mankind have a fixed standard of right — a true law of God, 
by which to measure the nature and extent of sin — and by 
which, also, every man shall in his conscience, in all states and 
circumstances, unerringly know that he is doing either right 
or wrong. 

But, I ask, is there any universal knowledge as to Right and 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 145 

Wrong? Moses says — "an eye for an eye." This he 
recommends as the law of right. But Jesus preaches quite a 
different doctrine, and teaches us, as the law of right, " to 
love one another/' 

Now, both Moses and Jesus have faithful, conscientious 
followers whose honest convictions of right are thus antago- 
nistic. In this case, — although the disciple might, by the 
exercise of his will-power, violate the moral law laid down by 
the master, — I ask, Where is the sin? In a case of jealousy 
and revenge, the involved disciple of Jesus might violate 
the law of love ; but he would, at the same time, if he mur- 
dered his enemy, be acting in harmony with the moral law 
of Moses ! Thus, according to the Bible standard of right, 
the man who might violate the law of God at one end, would, 
in the same proportion, be obeying it at the other. Now, 

Where is his sin ? Dr. B . would reply, doubtless, that 

the old law of God is now repealed ; that the present law of 
right, under which sin is punishable, is divulged in the 
Christian dispensation. If this position be assumed, then — 
I ask, How can we know perfectly, that, when we violate the 
the law of love, we are doing something positively against the 
law of God ? How can we be perfectly certain that the 
New Testament is the word of God ? Surely, the doctors 
of divinity openly confess it to be sick, out of order, and 
wrongly translated in places ! Under this new dispensation, 
Dr. B . says, that murder is contrary to the moral gov- 
ernment of God. Hence, on man's part, when committed, 
it is a supernatural sin. But here let me inquire : Is it a sin 
when a man acts from the conviction that he is doing right ? 
Certainly not. Why ? Because, if it were in all cases a su- 
pernatural and punishable sin to commit murder, how many 
clergymen, according to this rule, would suffer the eternal conse- 
quences thereof for the deliberate method, which they almost 
every where sanction and adopt, of murdering the criminal, 

10 



146 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

immediately after prayers, by the barbarous process of stran- 
gulation ! Do they forgive their enemies ? Do they, when 
the assassin's knife enters the heart, breathe forth — "Father, 
forgive him?" If one man murders another, with the presiding 
conviction that he is doing right ; then, in this instance, — J 
ask, Is the murderer knowingly acting against the moral law 
of God ? Nay ; because he would be acting from the motive 
or love of right at the moment ; although the deed, in fact, may 
be unequivocally and manifestly wrong. I urge these points in 
order to demonstrate the fact, which has been confessed, that 
mankind can not be universally subjected in sin or wrong : 
because there exists no universally recognized principle oj 
right whereby to judge the world. 

Dr. B . affirms mankind to be naturally prone to go 

against the law of right. Now, on the ground of educational 
bias — on the presumption that he is theologically prejudiced 
and darkened as to the real nature and psychological or- 
ganization of man — we may let this defamation of humanity 
pass, with the exhortation, uttered in all deference, that he 
forthwith sets to the music of practice the text quoted from 
Pope. Because, to say that man naturally exerts his will- 
power against the moral law of God, is to assert that which all 
the race proves to be exceedingly erroneous and pernicious. 
One man thinks it is right to hold slaves ; another, that it is 
wrong. One feels justified in hanging the criminal ; another, 
only when he opposes the custom with all his might. One 
thinks the Sabbath to be a divine institution, which must be 
devoted exclusively to church-going purposes ; another, con- 
scientiously, does not believe any thing of the kind. The 
Jew is as conscientious in selling merchandise, when Chris- 
tians are going to church, as the Christian is justified, 
in his educational conscience, in trading on Saturday when 
the Jew reverently retires to the synagogue. Of the univer- 
sal disagreement as to the nature of sin, Dr. B . has, in 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 147 

the work heretofore alluded to, (page 47,) acknowledged him- 
self perfectly aware. In speaking of the indeterminate use of 
language, he says :— " The word sin is of this description, and 
most persons seem to imagine that it names a given act or 
state, about which there is no diversity of understanding. 
Contrary to this, no two minds ever had the same impression 
of it. The whole personal history of every man, his acts, 
temptations, wants, and repentances ; his opinions of God, 
of law, and of personal freedom ; his theory of virtue, his de- 
cisions of the question, whether sin is an act, or a state ; of 
the will, or of the heart : in fact, his whole theology and life 
will enter into his impression of this word sin, to change the 
quality, and modify the relations of that which it signifies. 
It will also be found, as a matter of fact, that the interminable 
disputes of the theologians on this particular subject, originate 
in fundamental differences of view concerning the nature of 
sin, and are themselves incontestable proofs that, simple as 
the word is, and on the lips of every body, (as we know it 
to be,) there is yet no virtual agreement of meaning con- 
nected with the word." This is a very rational confession. 
All the different governments, different laws, different reli- 
gious sects, and systems of managing the bodies and souls of 
men ; are so many evidences, that mankind are striving, 
yearning after the Right ; that they are not yet progressed to 
that point of unity w T here a universal standard of justice and 
equity can be perceived and adopted co-extensive with the 
human family. 

Second proposition: "that sin is proved to exist, because 
we instinctively blame mankind." It is my impression that 
blame is a complete proof of man's ignorance of man. The 
wise and noble mind is lenient ; the foolish man is always 
blaming, Jesus, Galileo, Columbus, every body, have been 

the victims of blame. Does Dr. B . remember how the 

pious and Christian inhabitants of London rose up in holy 



148 THE APPROACHING CRISIS, 

horror against Heming, who had the audacity to invent street 
lamps? The sun had gone down, and the moon shed none 
of her accustomed radiance ; and so the genius of Heming, 
in the exercise of his supernatural will, constructed and sub- 
stituted lights at proper intervals throughout the city. But 
he was blamed for sinning against God. Impious, self-deter- 
mining man ! But why was he blamed ? Why, because he 
was usurping the prerogatives of the Creator ! Does not the 
Bible distinctly affirm that the Lord had made two lights : 
one to rule the day, the other the night? And did not 
Heming act, in exercising his freedom, against the consummate 
omniscience of Deity ? Puny, presumptive, audacious man ! 
how richly he deserved blame for such a manifest commission 
of the supernatural sin ! 

Dr. Bushnell said, that the people were so perfectly con- 
scious of being personally sinful and of deserving blame, that 
they would come to the church every Sunday to have it 
preached to them, and would pay for it too ! This was " the 
unkindest cut of all." But let us think of the statement. 
The priests bear rule, and the people love to have it so. If 

Dr. B . was a careful student of human nature, he would 

discover quite different reasons for human actions. The 
people go to church because they need diversion ; because 
they wish to be popular in business ; because they desire to 
see and to be seen. It is true, that, now and then, a person at- 
tends the sanctuary for instruction ; not so particularly for the 
purposes of being blamed. But they become accustomed, 
however, to the perpetual defamation of the human character, 
and think there is no remedy for the .evil. When Baxter 
first preached " infant damnation" to the English mothers, 
they rose up en masse against him ; but he was a " doctor of 
divinity," and, hence, soon succeeded, by quoting Greek and 
Hebrew passages and eminent commentators, in quelling the 
rebellious congregation. The mothers finally became tran- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 149 

quil ; and ultimately consented to pay quite cheerfully " to be 
blamed," and to hear preached the diabolical and imaginative 
doorma. 

The Lecturer said, he would like to see how a rationalist, 
who believed that all things and men were controlled by the 
laws of cause and effect, would bear the malicious taunts of 
an urchin who might be supposed to be thrusting a pin in the 
skeptic's back. That would be a case of " manifest misdi- 
rection/'as the rationalist defines sin. Would the rationalist 
regard it in the same light as he would the pricking of a 
splinter from the back of the pew ? " No," said he, " the 
rationalist would blame the boy" as the self-determining cause 
of the disturbance, and disturb the congregation by his cries. 
To this I can only offer my own method of practicing the 
principles of a generous rationalism. In the first place, I 
should pity the urchin for being sufficiently unfortunate in 
his phrenological character to be capable of feeling like thus 
tormenting and disturbing another individual. In the second 
place, I should, without harboring any revengeful feeling, 
break up the immediate relations subsisting between the 
youth and myself, either by removing myself from the locality, 
or else the youth as the cause of the supposed uneasiness. 
To this matter the doctrine of supernatural blame does not 
apply ; it is all cause and effect. 

As another department of this inferential effort to prove 

the existence of evil, Dr. B . referred to the hypothetical 

fact, that every body is out of friendship with themselves, — 
perpetually self- accusing and self- blaming ; which was con- 
sidered sufficient evidence of their internal guiltiness and 
moral obliquity. A little real knowledge of the teachings of 
phrenology would have solved this problem. In nearly all 
cases of extreme self-condemnation or blame, it will be found 
that the individuals, thus affected, either have received, through 
hereditary descent, a defective mental constitution, or else, 



150 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

are the victims of some atrocious system of ethics and 
theology. Daily walking about the streets, there is a man 
who believes he has committed the unpardonable sin ! Of 
course, he is under constant self-accusation — as a being eter- 
nallv condemned of God. Now, I ask, where did he obtain 
so horrid an idea ? Surely, not from his own sinful, depraved 
nature. Quite the contrary. He is a victim of Churchian- 
ity — a mysterious and incomprehensible system, which Dr. 
B . is laboring to rescue from the approaching flood of in- 
telligence and republicanism, which is hourly rising higher 
and higher against the combined forces of Christendom. 

In the thirteenth century, there sprang up in Italy, and was 
thence propagated throughout almost all the countries of 
Europe, a denomination of Christians, called the Whippers. 
Their theology, (like Dr. Bushnell's supernaturalism,) taught 
them to spurn, and dislike themselves, and to defame the 
human character in every conceivable manner. Persons of 
both sexes, and all ranks and ages, ran through the public 
streets with whips in their hands, lashing their bodies with 
the most astonishing zeal and severity, with the hope of ob- 
taining, by their voluntary mortification and outward pen- 
ance, the divine mercy and salvation for themselves and 
others. This sect taught, among other Christian doctrines, 
that flagellation was a virtue of equal magnitude with the 
baptismal ceremony and the other sacramental proceedings, 

and was called the baptism of blood ! Now will Dr. B . 

assert that this flagellation was a proof that the people were 
internally conscious of deserving blame ? My impression is, 
that he must assume this psychological position ; because his 
last discourse, which I am now examining, was as clear an in- 
stance of premeditated theological flagellation of the human 
soul as was ever instituted or practiced by the religious 
Whippers themselves. 

The long pilgrimages, made by the pagan and early reli- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 151 

gious sects, were regarded, by the Lecturer, as another evidence 
of instinctive sense of wrong or evil to be atoned for, through 
sacrificial agency. How superficial is this conclusion ! Let 
us see. Mohammed, for example, esteemed Mecca as the hori- 
zon of his spiritual experience. He recommended it as such 
to his disciples. He loved the city and its beautiful retreats. 
It was his sacramental altar ; the table upon which he first 
broke the bread and gave the wine to his conscientious fol- 
lowers. He did not command his people to make a pilgrim- 
age to the city once a year. But those who lived in the days 
of Mohammed were first led to the sacred cave from their af- 
fection for its religious associations. The next generation 
considered it an established custom, forever to be observed ; 
the next, a duty, to be discharged at all hazards ; the next, a 
penance, analogous to all religious ceremonies, quite indispen- 
sable to the eternal salvation and beatification of the soul ! 

Thus, Dr. B . should have been more philosophical, and 

discovered a better explanation of the causes of self -condemna- 
tion and of self-imposed afflictions ; except in those cases 
where an enlightened conscience in reality feels offended. 

I come now to another proposition : That sin exists because 
we forgive. All the impressions which I have received on 
that head, amount to this conclusion : that revenge and for- 
giveness are almost twin brothers ; born of the prolific parent, 
Ignorance. There is no such a thing, philosophically and 
properly considered, as forgiveness. A revengeful person is 
one who, from his peculiar temperament and organization, 
can not easily control his passions ; he gives blow for blow — 
takes an eye for an eye — and thus feels that the ends of jus- 
tice, according to his definition, are at once fully and per- 
fectly satisfied. But a. forgiving person is one who feels in- 
jured ; he feels offended, he feels you to be decidedly in his 
debt, and will long remember it ; but he controls his passions, 
easily, and in a commendable degree, and says, " no matter, I 



152 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

will not hurt you in return, my friend — Oh, no ! I forgive you 
— I can speak words of kindness to you and feel them, too." 
Now, this is all the forgiveness which is at yet known or de- 
veloped in this world. The forgiving person smiles and stabs. 
We are told to speak kind words to those we consider our 
enemies ; because, forsooth, those mild sentences " heap 
coals of fire upon the offender's head." This is highly grati- 
fying to the forgiving individual ! He forgives in order to be 
all the more revenged. Now I am impressed to consider 
blame, revenge, and such forgiveness as the legitimate children 
of Ignorance. " Forgive your enemies ; love them that curse 
you," &c. ; but I thank God, that I can behold, in the ap- 
proaching era, a more transcendent state of morals—a state, 
in which the pure and wise, and high-minded man can not be 
injured or offended ! Nothing to forgive ; for there is no 
offense! The noble parent does not feel offended at the little 
infant ; though it might cause some dreadful accident or in- 
jury. Men and crimes are quite different things. The little 
bee makes honey ; but, if molested, it will also sting. 

I pass on to another proposition : That all government pre- 
supposes the existence of sin in the world. Here, again, I am 
moved to pronounce Dr. B .in transparent error. For gov- 
ernments manifestly presuppose the existence of ignorance, im- 
becility, and diversity of inclinations on the part of the people. 
An intelligent roan, as already shown, is a law unto himself! A 
moral and well situated man needs no constables, no prisons, 
no gallows to keep him in the paths of rectitude and right- 
eousness. Dr. B . thought, that, granting the doctrine of 

cause and effect be true and applicable to man, children 
should be left to unfold in the family like flowers in the gar- 
den ; giving forth their native odors, without the farce of 
family governments. But the fact, he thought, was quite to 
the contrary. He asserted that man was a self-determining 
power ; that the family arrangements were made as a proof 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 153 

of the expectation of evil as a consequence or necessity of 
such freedom. This point I will not now dispute. For I 
behold mountains of ignorance in families and states as to 
the most effectual and salutary methods of developing and 
governing the individual. But I will simply remark, that, in 
a family where rationalistic spiritualism or the harmonial 
philosophy has displaced the church theology, and is truly 
practiced by the parents ; the household regulations are ar- 
ranged so harmoniously, and with so much liberty for the 
play of diverse individual inclinations, that the children can 
have an opportunity to be cultured like the flowers, and to 
unfold the sweeter elements of their being, without being 
molested by the horrid dreams of supernaturalism. A judi- 
cious and philosophical husbandman will fence in his gardens 
that no cattle or swine may disturb the growing vegetation ; 
even so the philosophical parent would put up a family gov- 
ernment for the purpose of protecting the inward harmony 
from unnecessary and unnatural molestation. 

The other evidences of sin in the world, which Dr. B . 

considered under the head of Sarcasm and Tragedy. I am 
moved to pass by as requiring no special comment. In al- 
luding to the passage in Shakespear, the Lecturer asked, 
whether " Lady Macbeth would have exclaimed, in the ago- 
nies of a stricken conscience, ' Out, damned spot !' if there 
were no ' damned spot' which existed to smite her for her 
voluntary transgressions ?" This question would appear in 
its true importance and legitimate force if I should ask : — 
When a man, afflicted with a bad circulation of blood, retires, 
and falling asleep, is heard to labor with the idea that a vul- 
ture is upon his breast — commonly called the night-mare or 
incubus — would that man be thus troubled if there were no 
vulture there ? The reader, I think, will apprehend my mean- 
ing. Dr. B . affirmed that Tragedy is a manifestation 

of, and contention between, right and wrong! While all 



154 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

natural intellects regard this description or species of theat- 
rical representation as the impersonation of bad dreams and 
savage cruelties, characteristic of a low and barbarous stage 
of civilization. "All tragedies are of kings and princes." 

Dr. B . affirmed, in substance, "men write and love 

tragedies ; because it is a terrific display of, and combat be- 
tween, sin and goodness." But I think, men write and love 
tragedies ; because, to the revengeful mind, they are sublime, 
and to the undeveloped imagination, exciting. Again, let it 
be repeated, if the Lecturer would but receive the exhorta- 
tion of Pope to " study man," and leave the high truths per- 
taining to the " Lord of Hosts" for subsequent investigation, 
he would certainly become less theological and more ration- 
alistic. The cause of truth would be thus advanced. 

This discussion was commenced, apparently, with a per- 
fect, though carefully expressed, assurance of personal com- 
petency to philosophically prove the supernaturalness of sin, 
and the necessity for a supernatural plan of redemption. 
But the effort thus far has utterly failed. He can not intelli- 
gibly and decisively determine what sin is ; because there 
exists no universally recognized standard of goodness. Surely, 
the decalogue, and the Christian Bible, do not constitute a 
universally recognized standard ; for every clergyman in Chris- 
tendom entertains different conceptions of Right, obtained by 
reading the same identical book and commandments. Until, 

therefore, Dr. B . ascertains, beyond all dispute, what the 

law of God absolutely and eternally is ; and until that law is 
acknowledged all over the world as the only admissible and 
everlasting criterion of Right ; it will remain unqualifiedly 
impossible for him to supernaturally define what sin is, or to 
convict the whole creation as being made subject to vanity, 
and men as voluntary aliens to the Lord of Hosts. 

In conclusion, Dr. B . urged, quite logically from his 

premises, the people to avail themselves forthwith of the re- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 155 

demptive plan of salvation. They were, he affirmed, all con- 
victed of the tremendous reality of sin, and should, therefore, 

immediately set about [something] of which, I venture 

to affirm, not ten of the entire congregation had the least 
adequate conception. His theology is not only time-sancti- 
fied, but measurably popular. It acknowledges no necessary 
connection with, or dependence upon, either nature or com- 
mon sense. It professes to be established upon a basis 
entirely supernatural. It takes no practical and beneficial 
cognizance of the social and natural wants of mankind ; but 
merely enjoins faith in certain abstract dogmas and incom- 
prehensibilities, which have already divided the world into 
petty sects and spread hostility and discord throughout the 

land. Whereas, if Dr. B . would but study mankind 

more, I know he would " blame" less ; and become of far 
greater service to the rising generations. By an adequate 
knowledge of phrenological science, and of the law of hered- 
itary transmission of qualities,* he would be enabled to 
judge mankind with a righteous judgment, and to teach the 
people how to avoid entailing unhealthy and vicious constitu- 
tions upon their offspring. But trembling for the safety of 
doctrines based upon a supernatural foundation, the Lecturer 
discourages the investigation of Nature and her laws ; and 
frowns, dogmatically and sarcastically, upon nearly all the 
splendid and valuable discoveries which rationalists and re- 
searchers have exhumed from the deep vaults of universal na- 
ture. In reply to the Lecturer's concluding earnest and pray- 
erful appeal to the people, that they should forthwith avail 



* See chapters on the action of psychological laws, as applicable to the genera- 
tion and improvement of the human type, in Great Harmonia, Vol. III. ; also in 
the Edinburgh Journal, edited by Combe ; also in the Educational System of A. 
Bronson Alcott, of Boston, Massachusetts. This mind is most worthy of the atten- 
tion which has been bestowed upon more popular personages. His spirituality of 
character render him a natural exponent of the psychological laws of Education, 
which the shepherds of the land should more fully comprehend. 



156 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

themselves of the ■redemptive scheme and turn all their love and 
attention to the Lord, I am impressed to partially neutralize 
it in the reader's mind, by quoting the following impressive 
parable, written by Leigh Hunt : — 

" Abou-Ben-Adhem (may his tribe increase !) 
Awoke one night from a sweet dream of peace, 
And saw, within the moonlight of his room, 
Making it rich, and like a lily bloom, 
An angel writing in a book of gold. 
Exceeding peace had made Ben-Adhem bold : 
And to the vision in the room he said — 
' What writest thou V The vision raised its head, 
And with a look made all of sweet accord, 
Answered, ' The names of those who love the Lord.' 
' And is mine one V said Abou. ( Nay, not so,' 
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, 
But cheerly still, and said : ' I pray thee, then, 
Write me as one who loves his fellow-men.' 
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night 
It came again, with a great wakening light, 
And showed the names which love of God had blest : 
And lo ! Ben-Adhem's name led all the rest." 



FIFTH REVIEW. 



Dr. Bushnell has now attained the summit of the philo- 
sophical argument, in favor of supernaturalism and against 
the rationalistic theories of religion. In the progress of the 
effort, man and nature have been constantly referred to as 
living witnesses and demonstrations of the supernatural faith 
and theory. The young minds of the congregation, and the 
skeptical members of all professions, were to receive, from this 
naturalistic argument, ample satisfaction, that nothing but 
supernaturalism can be the truth. The Rationalist was, in the 
commencement, promised a philosophical demonstration of 
the practicability of God in Christ, of the atonement, of the 
redemptive plan of salvation, of special providences, and 
prayer. To accomplish this desirable end, this modern 
Luther has relieved his mind of five discourses, the last of 
which number I design to review on this occasion. 

The apex of the rational or philosophical argument is now 
reached by this independent champion of popular theology. 
During the eccentric march, nothing has been neglected, 
which could, in any conceivable manner, impeach the char- 
acter of man, and bring the entire human family into direct 
confliction with the nature and will of God, and with the in- 
effable harmonies of the moral universe. The Lecturer has 
labored diligently to convict mankind of the most diabolical 
sins and abominations. He has said very much calculated 
to weaken the individual in his private efforts to be and to do 
good ; and has somewhat discouraged those who would strive, 
by the aid of science and spiritual rationalism, to live right- 



158 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

eous lives in strict obedience to the moral and physical laws 
of their being. He has, in his intellectual gyrations, raised 
the theological telescope, its lens deeply colored in the dyes of 
orthodoxy, and bade his hearers look through that beclouded 
medium, at the " system of nature" as differing from the 
system of God, and then at the spiritual " realm of powers," — 
causing the people to observe in either direction the illus- 
trations and confirmations of the supernatural creed. And 
then, he inverted the instrument, and bade his skeptical hear- 
ers to gaze in the opposite direction, at mankind in their 
multifarious spiritual relations to the wide expanse of created 
things. After the Lecturer had succeeded, as he supposed, in 
utterly demolishing man's faith in the divinity of man, and 
converting the whole system of nature into a perfect pande- 
monium of wretched antagonisms to God, then he mounted 
the ruins, — ascended the falling and crumbling fabric — and 
said : " Here, then, I stand — feeling assured that nothing 
can shake me from my position — and, now, I offer to man- 
kind, as a sovereign remedy for all sin, the redemptive plan 
of salvation." 

The Lecturer said, in concluding his last discourse, that he 
left the subject at a point where the Christian plan of redemp- 
tion was seen to be essential to individual regeneration. 
The presumption is, therefore, that the philosophical depart- 
ment of the argument for supernaturalism is now completed. 
And of course, we, who desire to be reasonable and rational 
beings, — and professedly candid in our recognitions and val- 
uations of an argument, pro or con, on any subject, — should 
now ask ourselves the questions : — 

First. Has Dr. B . proved Rationalism to be erroneous ? 

Second. Or, the Bible scheme of redemption to be indispensa- 
ble to peace on earth and good will among men ? 

My impression is, that these essentially important points 
have not been proved — nay, not even apparently so ; and 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 159 

therefore, I am moved to present you with the following 
considerations. 

Before the Lecturer can build a spiritual Zion on the scrip- 
tural foundation, or before he can re-paint and re-embellish 
the old superstructure, and invite the whole human family 
to take possession, and satisfy them that they can live 
therein in safety and concord forever, it is first necessary to 
test and ascertain the condition of the premises. The 
ground plan should have been far removed from the neigh- 
borhood of earthquakes. It should be firm as a rock ; capa- 
ble of withstanding the surging billows of time ; and impreg- 
nable to the army of sciences which promise to march 
steadily onward, regardless of popular superstitions and error. 

As you probably all know, Dr. B *s foundation is neither 

Nature, nor Reason, nor Intuition, nor any thing else which 
is accepted by the Rationalistic school of philosophers ; but 
his avowed basis is the Bible — the present recognized sacred 
canon. Do you not see, then, what he should have done for 
the rising generations ? Do you not see what all skeptics, 
infidels, atheists, lukewarm believers, and harmonial phi- 
losophers, very properly, and, hence, emphatically demand ? 
My friends, if he could not have accomplished it in forty 
lectures, and yet believed such a consummation possible, in 
the sphere of historical proof and spiritual and inferential 
demonstration ; nevertheless, he should have first given us 
the plain unanswerable evidence that the Bible is the verita- 
ble word of God ! But has he done this ? Has he proved 
to our satisfaction that he stands upon a sure foundation, 
which can never be shaken ? Far from it. He began his 
lectures by taking a text as bodying forth a great truth ; yet 
he altered it to fit still closer the preconceived and pre- 
arranged convictions of his own mind. Thus making, 
as it were, assurance doubly sure, that man's Reason, 
after all on the ultimate analysis, is the master or umpire 



160 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

of the Bible and its teachings. This was the most es- 
sential point to determine for the rationalist. The Lec- 
turer should have known that the principal cause of skepti- 
cism in religious matters, is the self-evident fact, that 
the Bible, which is the only foundation of the supernatural- 
istic system, is the creation of human heads and hands ; that 
it contains historical and chronological errors and contradic- 
tions ;* that it bears the impress of human imperfections in 
its codes and inculcations. These are points which required 
attention in the commencement. But these important mat- 
ters were passed over ; hence, all his arguments and special 
pleadings for the truth of supernaturalism, fall lifeless to the 
ground ; and his superstructure is as the house built on the 
sandy foundation. The frame-work is completed ; doors and 
windows are made and adjusted ; and the whole house is put 
in readiness for the entrance and use of the proprietor. But 
the tempest sweeps o'er the hills ; old ocean proclaims the 
speedy approach of the destroyer ; the distant forests break 
forth in dismal lamentations ; the rains descend ; and the 
proprietor is driven out, amid the ruins of his newly con- 
structed residence, to do battle with the prevailing storm ! 
The prevention of such a disaster, evidently is a sound foun- 
dation and a firm construction. But does Dr. B . not. 

see, that he has gone on in the work of constructing a theo- 
logical fabric, without ever giving the least satisfactory assur- 
ance that the premises are tenable ? Yea ; whether he per- 
ceives it or not, it is nevertheless true, that he has totallv 
neglected to do away with the chief cause of skepticism in 
Christendom. He employed his reason, I am happy to say, 
throughout the discussion. But it was not a free reason. 
This I regret. It was manifestly engaged, (before the trial 
commenced,) to discharge the duties of an attorney or coun- 
selor for the system of supernaturalism, to which he stands 

* See contradictious detailed in Harmonia, Vol. III. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 161 

before the world fully committed. He assumed the premises, 
and then applied a small amount of philosophical argument 
in order to convince the people that the Rationalistic system 
is essentially erroneous. This, I repeat, has not been done ; 
because the ground plan of supernaturalism is not proved to 
be immutable ; the Bible was not shown to be a supernatural 
revelation of God's will. More particularly, I come now to 
examine the lecture in question, delivered on last Sabbath 
evening. This text was again taken from the eighth chapter 
of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, twenty-second verse, — 
reading as follows : " For we know that the whole creation 
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." 

When a modern son of Hippocrates or Galen, discovered 
a prescription for the chemical preparation of some blood- 
detergent or purifying compound, forthwith he sets himself 
to enumerating the number and variety of diseases for which 
his remedy is to be confidently recommended as a panacea. 
He thinks over the five hundred different " ills which flesh is 
heir to," and comes to the conclusion that his compound is 
not only a "perfect cure" for the great leading diseases — 
asthma, rheumatism, consumption, scrofula, and gout — but 
that it is in fine a " universal panacea" for all known and con- 
ceivable disorders. But here arises a question. How shall 
he make the people believe that, " the blood-purifying com- 
pound" is the unfailing remedy for all diseases ? His course 
is very plain. He must develop a " New Theory" of dis- 
ease, culled from the writings of learned authors upon pathol- 
ogy and therapeutics. The theory must be constructed in 
such a manner as to make the final conclusion very logical 
and self-evident, that the " Blood-purifier" is the only inval- 
uable sovereign remedy and infallible cure for the sick to get 
and use, no matter what the disorder may be, or how origi- 
nated. In the first place, the Esculapian makes it appear, 
from certain argumentations, that all diseases originate in the 

11 



162 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

blood. He writes emphatically on this affirmation. He 
elaborates long columns of argument with the special design 
of creating a general faith in this one-idea theory of disease 
and physical distress. Every thing must originate in the 
vascular system. The respiratory and circulating depart- 
ments give rise to many maladies ; but the impurities, and 
impoverished condition, of the blood, he asserts, are the pri- 
mary causes of all human physical and considerable mental 
suffering. Now, I ask, why does the proprietor of the " blood- 
purifier" publish this philosophy of disease to the world as the 
truth ? The answer is distinct. Because he believes he pos- 
sesses a remedy for all blood-diseases. Hence he advertises 
that his " universal panacea" is an infallible and sovereign 
remedy for all diseases, which originate in the blood ; among 
which, he enumerates, are the following : consumption, scrof- 
ula, cancer, broken bones, sick head-ache, measles, squinting, 
rheumatism, fevers, and clump feet! 

Now does Dr. B . not see, that his recent effort to 

prove supernaturalism, is perfectly represented in the forego- 
ing illustration ? He has found, as he believes with com- 
mendable integrity, a soul-purifying and world-lubricating 
medicine, — a certain and unmistakable remedy for all the 
disorders and consequences of sin. He, therefore, commen- 
ces a learned and argumentative diagnostication of the moral 
constitution of man, and finds it sadly in need of the balm in 
Gilead. He discovers and affirms that this " universal pana- 
cea" can be made available and effective only in cases where 
the individual is actually guilty of the supernatural sin. 
Lest, however, he should fail to convict all mankind, (which 
he can not do by any known standard of righteousness,) of 
the high sin, for which the medicine is particularly designed 
and administered by clergymen ; he prudentially quotes a 
text from Paul to prove that the whole family of man, 
together with a large portion of the productions of nature, 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 163 

are charged, by the recording angel in the courts of heaven, 
with the commission of supernatural crime. This is just the 
universal disease which the redemptive plan is recommended 

to eradicate ! Thus, it is manifest, that Dr. B . has, 

under the avowed intention of removing doubt and skepti- 
cism, put his mental energies to the work of creating a fresh 
demand for the ecclesiastical medicine which he scientifically 
compounds, and in the curative properties of which, I doubt 
not, he places the utmost hope and confidence. Hence, with 
all conceivable honesty of purpose and true zeal for the uni- 
versal acceptance and administration of his infallible com- 
pound, Dr. B . proceeds to show that all "disorders" 

originate in the supernatural sin ; among which he enume- 
rates the following : — murder; theft; dissimulation ; duplicity ; 
wars ; famine ; diseases ; storms ; fogs, which bedim nature ; 
pestilential miasm, which generates death ; deformed fish and 
vegetation ; abortions ; snakes ; and malformed saurians. 
All these disorders, he thinks, are caused by the existence in 
this world of supernatural sin ; and he presents his " com* 
pound" of atonement, redemption, forgiveness, special provi- 
dence, and prayer — as the sovereign remedy for the regenera- 
tion and reformation of all. The Lecturer, also, recom- 
mended the redemptive medicine as the most perfect "fire 
annihilator" in the world ! For he said ; when a house was 
set on fire, it was evident that nothing in nature could do it, 
except self-causing and self-determining man. [Parenthet- 
ically, 1 will here remark, that houses, hay stacks, volcanoes, 
and coal mines, are frequently fired by the chemical action 
and combustion of nature's own ingredients. Query : Is 
this one of creation's disorders ?] He said, " there was free 
will at one end of the line and a house on fire at the other." 
This burning house was a dissolving exhibition of the conse- 
quences of the supernatural sin. And the redemptive com- 
pound was recommended, in effect, as the best annihilator of 






164 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

these fiery trials through which the travailing and groaning 
creation is compelled to pass. 

The last discourse, under review, was a continuation of the 
arguments and theologic evidences in favor of the utter de- 
pravity and moral viciousness of man. The premeditation 
and words with which the Lecturer studied how to defame, 
vilify, and characterize man's imperfect nature, is not a little 
surprising in view of the fact, that he considers himself a 
member of the same human family. What is man ? Dr. 
B . thinks that the "serpent" is man's true representa- 
tive ; an animal, which was said to be an abortion, shaken 
from the lap of nature, and condemned to crawl in the dust 
all the days of its life. How can an animal be condemned 
for moral wrong ? Again, What is man ? Dr. B . char- 
acterized him as the " sinning substance ;" a being or free 
power " doing as he was not made to do ;" an enemy to 
God's universe, and a destroyer of nature's primeval harmony. 
Yes ; nothing can exceed the contempt and pity which Dr. 

B . professed to feel toward and for the race of man. 

Every true philanthropist must regret this. According to 
the Lecturer, man is as a foreign substance under the shell 
of the egg ; that is, a sinning power in the fields of nature. 

By this, Dr. B . evidently means to imply, either that 

man has very nearly converted all creation into a defective 
egg, or else, by the process of incubation being allowed to go 
on to its final issue, the whole creation, owing to man's vol- 
untary sins, turns out, at last, to be a deformed chicken, 
having one wing, or three wings, as the sequence. 

On opening his discourse, the Lecturer asserted that the 
whole creation is groaning and travailing in sin, " concomi- 
tantly or by implication with man ;" and then, referred to the 
third chapter of Genesis, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nine- 
teenth verses, wherein it is said — " Because thou hast heark- 
ened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 165 

cursed is the ground for thy sake : in sorrow shalt thou eat 
of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it 
bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat of the herb of the 
field, * * * for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou re- 
turn." To this matter I have presented several objections. 
In this connection, however, it is deemed proper to first 
direct your attention to the Lecturer's definition of man as a 
" sinning substance ;" a being " doing as he was not made to 
do." You remember, I presume, how r the Lecturer supposed 
that he had satisfactorily shown the whole family or frater- 
nity of man to be buried in supernatural sins. He said, in 
substance, as you remember, "that his whole subject de- 
pended upon the establishment of the existence of positive 
sin in the world." This fact was clearly demonstrated, he 
thought, in the previous lecture ; and so, he felt at liberty to 
go on with his theme, and demonstrate that Nature is suffer- 
ing concomitantly and by implication with man. 

The system of supernaturalism, then, is not proved to be a 
truth. Why ? For the manifest reason, already urged, that 
there exists no universal standard of judgment as to what sin 
or evil really is. It makes no difference, in a discussion of 
this nature, what opinion you or I may entertain on the great 
question of Right and Wrong. The whole family of man, 
most certainly, can not be tried and condemned, for certain 
thoughts and acts, according to mere individual opinions of 
merit and demerit. Minds can be adjudged only by what 
they individually conceive to be right and wrong. This is 
the church theory. But it can not be altogether true. Be- 
cause it would convert all ideas of a divine and unchangeable 
government into a world of anarchy and ill-constructed 
comedy. I will give an illustration. 

For example : suppose a man in Christendom should 
commit the crime w r hich is termed, murder. Prior to the act, 
however, he had read the injunction, " thou shall not kill." 



166 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

He had received this as his standard of right, and shaped his 
conscience to it. Now this, therefore, becomes the law, ac- 
cording to theology, by which that man is to be tried in the 
court of heaven. In the moment and paroxysm of anger he 
destroys the outer life of a fellow-being. A few months sub- 
sequently, he is executed by the sheriff. He is straightway 
arraigned before the King of worlds, for the purpose of being 
then and there judged according to deeds done in the body. 

The Judge accordingly asks : " Of what sins are you 
guilty ?" 

" I am guilty of murder," replies the prisoner sorrowfully. 

At this moment, he who had officially sent the prisoner to 
that awful court by strangulation on earth, — the sheriff, — 
arrived, and is, also, placed in the prisoner's box. 

The Judge next addresses him : " Of what supernatural 
sins are you guilty ?" 

" I am guilty," says the sheriff, " of envy, and, occasion- 
ally, of perjury." 

" Is that all ?" asks the Judge. 

" Yes, so far as I can remember." 

Judge : " Why do you consider yourself guilty only of 
these sins ?" 

Prisoner : " Because I have followed, as nearly as possible, 
the precious commandments and word of God in all other 
respects." 

Judge : " Do you know the prisoner who was occupying 
the stand when you arrived ?" 

Prisoner : " Yes ; he was guilty of murder. I knew 
him well." 

Judge : " Can you inform me what occasioned his sudden 
departure from earth ?" 

Prisoner : " In obedience, my blessed Lord, to your ex- 
pressed commandment as given to Moses, and in accordance 
also with the combined moral and legal sanctions of both the 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 167 

church and state, I, my Lord, in the capacity of a sheriff, 
was that man's executioner !" 

Judge : " You say, then, that the first prisoner is guilty of 
murder ; that you are guilty only of envy and perjury ; and 
yet, you confess, as I understand you, that you were the real 
cause of that man's physical death." 

Prisoner : (somewhat alarmed, but resolved on self-extri- 
cation,) " Yes, my Lord, he committed murder voluntarily 
and therefore against thy law, which says — ' thou shalt not 
kill.' But I was an officer under a government that employ 
thy ministers of the gospel, who believe and teach thy word 
with becoming integrity. Thy vicegerents convinced me 
that capital punishment ' is right !' They quoted thy words, 
saying : ' Whosoever sheddeth man's blood by man shall his 
blood be shed.' Then they prayed for thy ever-enduring 
mercy to fall upon the soul of the murderer. Thus, my 
Lord, I am not guilty of the voluntary crime of murder ; for 
I conscientiously discharged my duties as sheriff, and hung 
the prisoner up as an example to the vicious, and as a terror 
to evil-doers." 

Now — I inquire, in view of Dr. B 's theory of sin and 

punishment, how can the Great Judge dispense justice, to re- 
dress the wrongs and punish the crimes of these prisoners ? 
Both committed murder ; that is, both destroyed external or 
physical life ; one in the heat of passion, the other from a 
conviction of duty. Where, then, is the law of justice? 
Shall the sheriff go into heaven, and take a seat in the midst 
of glory and goodness ; simply because he did not intend any 
sin in strangling the prisoner — his brother? And is the 
victim, who was thus sent legally to the heavenly court of 
eternal justice, to be forever consigned to a burning hell ; 
simply because he had the misfortune, yea, the terrible mis- 
fortune, to believe the Mosaic commandment to be true ? 
Verily; according to this theory, the imperishable law of 



168 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

right and wrong, by which a man's soul is theologically as- 
serted to be judged in heaven, is a mere inveiglement — a 
fantastic drama, — I might truly add, a " comedy of errors." 
How much better for the human race, according to this doc- 
trine, were they all, like the untutored heathen or beasts of 
the fields, ignorant of the means of condemnation ! The 
brute and the idolatrous heathen are exempt, through their 
ignorance of the Bible, from all future punishment ; but the 
civilized races — unfortunate beings as they are — must almost 
all suffer, for the same acts or sins, the eternal consequences 
of knowledge. In all this — I again ask, Where is the uni- 
versal and unchangeable law of distributive Justice ? 

Another point is essential. That is, supernaturalists must 
first show that there exists a universally admitted standard 
of Right before they can logically condemn a single indi- 
vidual of "blamable wrong" in the sight of God. Unless 
they can do this, how do they know but that all theologic 
judgment and condemnation are merely arbitrary ? Dr. 

B . may think it is " blamable wrong" for me to preach 

the harmonial doctrines ; but I do not think so. I hold it to 
be a plain duty. The church is divided, according to his 
own acknowledgment, on the question of Right and Wrong. 
He thinks, and very properly too, that lying is blamable 
wrong. But there are Christian sects who conscientiously 
believe that any thing is good — even pious frauds — so long 
as " the end justifies the means." But, enough of such su- 
perficiality. It has been shown you, that, although there is 
" blamable wrong" in this world of relative individual de- 
pendencies — merely local disturbances, confined to the com- 
mon level of individual affairs and interests ; yet, there is no 
Law by which all mankind can be proved to be guilty of the 
supernatural sin ; which crime is theologically defined to be 
the voluntary action of man, knowingly, against the moral 
law of God. Every man, it is true, has an indwelling and in- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 169 

definite conception of right and wrong. But the sense of 
right, which most persons feel the strongest, is almost wholly 
educational. You all know this to be true. You know that 
there are as many different ideas and laws of " right" in the 
world, as there are races of men, or sects of religion ; yea, 
these educational views of sin and goodness are as numerous 
as individuals on the earth. If, therefore, Dr. B . de- 
pends upon his success in convicting the race of sin, in order 
to create a demand in the world for the saving and cleansing 
" compound" of supernaturalistic redemption ; then he has 
reasons for discouragement, because he has signally failed in 
the premises. In the succeeding discourse, I am impressed to 
show, that, in the philosophy of " free will," the Lecturer has 
derived many deductions or inferences from untenable and 
groundless propositions. 

But now I must solicit your attention to another point. I 
allude to the origin of supernatural sin. It was asserted in 

the first text to Dr. B 's course of lectures that, " God 

was before all things, and in him all things consist." In 

reply to this, I said that Dr. B ., in order to harmonize 

Rationalism with Supernaturalism, and all things with the 
text, was logically under the necessity of charging the ex- 
istence and subsistence of all things, evil as well as good, to 
God. If all " things consist" in God ; it follows that the 
origin of sin, the disastrous deluge, the horrible experiences 
of man from generation to generation, the formation and sus- 
tenance of a devil, and hell itself; all must be traced and 
referred to the creative, Omnipotent, and Omniscient Mind. 

And thus, as it seems, Dr. B . has finally made the case 

appear ! He affirms that God was surrounded with the pos- 
sibility of evil before he created man. The creation of man 
was, consequently, a hazardous experiment ! The simple 
plan opened a door for the entrance and existence of evil, 
which the Lord could not shut, consistently and logically, 



170 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

with the creation of free moral powers ! Hence, Dr. B . 

has openly acknowledged sin to be, in the aggregate estimate, 
a tremendous and supernatural reality. He has conceded, 
in the development of his theologic philosophy, that sin is 
truly a mighty antagonist to God ; who could not but have 
permitted its existence and absolute enthronement about him, 
even before the population of the earth by human beings. 
Thus, by the power of church-logic, sin is deified. It is a 
tremendous reality in God's universe. Nay ; it is not so ! 
Evil is a transient shadow ; a fleeting meteor. It is but the 
dust of mankind's progression. All things have dark sides — ■ 
cast deep shadows upon the earth ; but they do so, because 
the effulgent sun shines upon them. My interior meaning is, 
my friends, that sin is but the name which men give to con- 
trasts or contrarieties in minds and morals. The towering 
oak receives great quantities of heat and light from the sun ; 
and, when thus illuminated, it looks grandly above all other 
vegetation as the lord of that kingdom ; but, at the same time, 
that magnificent tree casts a dark, deep shade over a large 
piece of ground. It may obscure the brilliancy of many 
flowers and beautiful trees. Thus lights and shades exist ; 
because the all-controlling luminary shines out over the fields 
of creation. Now, shall we term the light, goodness ; and 
the shade, evil ? Which, I ask, is the positive fact ; which 
the most conspicuous reality ? Is it the darkness ? Or, the 
light ? There is but one answer. The sun is the tremendous 
reality ; it is the great positive fact, which illuminates Nature, 
and causes lights and shades amid the vast contrariety of 
things of which the world is constituted. So it is with what 
men term, Evil. Evil is but the result of a universal Good- 
ness ; the shade cast by the moral character of man when his 
character is illuminated by a higher conception of Good — ■ 
measured by a higher standard of Right. Solomon con- 
tinued to be a wise man, until there appears a man of higher 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 171 

wisdom, then the illumination of the latter casts a dark shade 
over the former, who then gradually recedes from view. So 
was Moses a great and brilliant character, until he was 
thrown into the shade by the Prince of Peace ! Like shadows, 
all sin is local, and, when compared with the soul's immor- 
tality, it is altogether negational and evanescent ! 

According to Dr. B . the creation was groaning and 

travailing in pain previous to man's creation. In the great 
geological epoch, which preceded the human species, the 
Lecturer affirmed that there were races of "malformed crea- 
tures" — snakes — fish, &c. — running parallel in their develop- 
ment with the regularly developed types of the same general 

class. Thus, Dr. B . proves himself an infidel to the 

Mosaic account ; which asserts, that after the Lord had 
created fish, and all creeping things, and fowls, and vines, 
the heavens and earth and all that in them is — then " He 
saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very 
good." It seems by this, that the Lord entertained not the 
least suspicion that he was environed by the tremendous 
possibility of evil. According to Moses, the Lord did not 
regard the creation of man as a wonderful and stupendous 
experiment. He created Adam with as much pleasure as he 
did any thing else, and blessed him. The Lord pronounced 
frequently, that all things he had made were " good." This 
was uniformly the all-sealing word — spoken and declared, 
according to the account, as earnestly subsequent to man's 
creation as previous to that event. It seems, therefore, that 
Dr. B . is far more learned and proficient in the mys- 
teries of godliness than Moses appears to have been. After 
the Lord had made the house, and furnished it, then he very 
naturally desired some one to live in it to keep it in order. 
He had unfolded the earth ; sent the waters into their various 
divisions ; made fish, and birds, and animals ; festooned the 
mountains with evergreen ; and decorated and essentialized 



172 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

the world with blessings and goodnesses ; then, as a natural 
want, the Lord desired some intelligent and rationalistic being 
to enjoy the creation. Hence, he says: "Let us [that is 
Brahma and Vishnu] make man in our image." This im- 
portant resolution, you will perceive, was made in the vast 
consilium of the other world, the Lord not betraying the 
slightest particle of apprehensiveness that the creation of man 
would involve the tremendous possibility of evil. But why 
(according to the Bible) was man created ? Plainly enough, 
it is said, to " have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the 
fowls of the air, and over every creeping thing." And sub- 
sequently to the creation of male and female, [i. e. free moral 
powers] the Lord "blessed them, and said, Be fruitful and 
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." Does this 
appear like the theory so earnestly propounded by the 
Lecturer ? Assuredly, the Lord did not anticipate, as has 
been shown, any great misfortune, even as " possibly" grow- 
ing out of man's creation. It appears, also, that the human 
creation was merely an after-thought; a spontaneous sug- 
gestion and requirement of nature. Every herb was growing 
with unbounded luxuriance, the fields were teeming with the 
ripened harvest ; although, " the Lord God," it is said, " had 
not caused it to rain upon the earth." Well, what then ? It 
is written — " There was not a man to till the ground." * * 
And so "the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground." 
This shows, very simply and conclusively, that the Bible doc- 
trine of supernaturalism is vastly different from, and more 

superior than, Dr. B 's incomprehensible theory. 

The Lecturer considered fogs and vapors as blemishes in 
nature, caused by the supernatural sin ! But from Genesis 
we learn, that, before the creation of man — and, hence, prior 
to any supernatural transgressions in the world — the rain was 
not caused to descend upon the earth ; nevertheless, as it 
reads, " there went up a ?nist from the earth, and watered the 



THE A KOACHING CRISIS. 173 

whole of the ground." It manifestly appears from this, that 
man — " the sinning substance" — did not originally cause 

vapors and fogs to rise up between Dr. B . or any other 

man, and the contemplation of some beautiful scene in nature. 

How explicitly the Mosaic account of creation contradicts 
the positions taken by the Lecturer ! True, it is exceedingly 
difficult to anticipate what a doctor of divinity might do with 
the passages in Genesis, should he undertake to doctor and 
improve them ; but, one thing is absolutely certain, the Bible 
account of man's creation makes that event a matter of ordi- 
nary importance and suggestion. The Lord did not work 
timidly, as one would who was perfectly conscious of being 
environed with the black clouds and portentous shadows of 
some possibly stupendous and eternal disaster. On the con- 
trary, he labored in quite a different state of feeling. He 
made man, according to the relation, on the suggestion of 
the moment ; with the greatest conceivable cheerfulness, dis- 
patch, and skill. And when the Lord saw the man alone, in 
the great temple of nature — so completely furnished with all 
things, as it was, and adapted to all the conveniences and 
happiness of housekeeping, he concluded that it was "not 
good that man should be alone/' Upon this discovery and 
suggestion, the Lord acted promptly and energetically, and 
forthwith " made a woman" to assist Adam to till the ground, 
to keep house — to multiply and replenish the earth. 

Nor did the " curse" drive man out of luxury into active 
employment ; because it is distinctly asserted or implied, that, 
before the first pair was placed in the garden, man was made 
expressly " to till the ground" — " to subdue the earth" — " to 
have dominion over every creeping thing." Now, it is mani- 
festly unreasonable to suppose that man could engage in so 
much manual labor without "sweat on his brow." Nay. 
Man had the earth to "subdue," — implying that there were 
existing, even then, " thorns and thistles," and many rough 



174 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

places to smooth, in the vast dominion over which man was 
made the princely sovereign! There are other points of 
interest connected with this particular question, but I leave 
them for the present, and pass on to another consideration. 

Dr. B . asserted that Nature represents both man and 

God. All the disorder, groaning, and travailing in the world 
must be attributed to man*; while God must be praised for all 
the existing harmony, perfection, and tranquillity. Accord- 
ing to this, the works of God are inter-penetrated and inverted 
by the voluntary or supernatural sins of man ! Think, my 
friends, of the unutterable absurdity of this doctrine. I ask — 
Can the wisdom and omnipotence of the Living Spirit be 
counteracted and transcended by weak and ignorant mortals ? 
Can the finite overthrow the Infinite ? Nay ! The Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth ; he is before all things and in him all 
things consist ; the measure whereof is longer than the earth, 
and broader than the sea. Who hath resisted his will ? It 
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God 
that showeth mercy. Can man resist the universal Will of 
the Supreme Being ? Dr. B . said, that man is a sin- 
ning substance — a power, confusing and disordering nature ; 
because " he does as he was not made to do." This is truly 
a bold assertion. How does he know whether he tells the 
truth or not, in this matter ? He takes his text from Paul 
as a sufficient guarantee or indorsement of his theory. Here, 
then, I will quote from the same authority to prove (if it be 
thus valid,) that Man does not and can not act contrary to the 
wise designs and ordinations of Jehovah. See Romans, ix. 
10. " Is there unrighteousness with God ? God forbid. For 
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have 
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have 
compassion.'* Further on it is asserted by Paul in substance, 
that Pharaoh had not committed the so-called supernatural 
sin : " for unto Pharaoh the Scripture saith, for this purpose 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 175 

have I raised thee up." Now what are the reasons assigned 
by the Lord for creating the tyrannical and murderous 
Egyptian king ? Was he made to be good, and happy, and 
to assist others to the acquisition of wisdom ? Far from it. 
The Lord says : " I raised thee up, that I might shovj my 
power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout 

all the earth." Now — I ask, if Dr. B . believes that 

Pharaoh was thus designed to perform a mission, — confessedly 
to subserve the purposes of displaying God's sovereign prowess 
and will, and to publish his name throughout the earth, — - 
how does he know but that every living king, and tyrant, and 
pirate on earth, is to-day doing, by express providential de- 
sign, the sovereign will of God ? This is not my impression. 
But I am now answering the supernaturalist on his oivn 
ground. We have Bible assurance that evil is overruled for 

good. As plain as Dr. B 's text, are the following 

passages from Paul : "Who hath resisted His Will? Nay 
but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall 
the thing say to Him that formed it, why hast thou made me 
thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same 
lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dis- 
honor ?" What shall we say, then, to all the wickedness and 
disorder in the world ? " Is there unrighteousness with God ? 
God forbid." In view, then, of all this plain Bible language : 
how can Dr. B . assert, with so much scriptural assu- 
rance and professional dogmatism, that man " does as he was 
not made to do ?" Or, that Nature undertakes to accomplish 
more than she is able to perform ? How does he know that 
" the apple-tree puts on more buds than it is capable of de- 
veloping" properly into healthy fruit ? Surely, every thing 
which grows has a residuum — some refuse materials — to the 
labor. And why may not the falling apple-blossoms be con- 
sidered, — like the expenditure of muscular strength which is 
consequent upon our bodily exercise, — as a result of the tree's 



176 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

effort to produce, (what it succeeds in to perfection,) viz. : — 
the precious fruit which decorates its bending boughs and 
delights our taste. 

I pass on to another point : Dr. B . considered some- 
what at length, but in a very unsatisfactory manner, the effect 
or consequences of sin — first, upon the Soul — second, upon 
the Body — third, upon Society — fourth, upon Nature. What 
w T as said under these respective heads, I am impressed, needs 
no elaborate review. 

In the soul, it was said, sin laid waste the moral Nature — 
desolated the creature man ; his feelings, passions, and their 
multifarious dependences. This was only another way — 
a theological way — of saying, that all voluntary or other in- 
fringements upon the indwelling conviction of Right, are 
succeeded by appropriate results and legitimate consequences, 
from which there was no possible escape — except, by taking 
internally and eternally the redemptive " compound" which, 

as you remember, is Dr. B 's universal panacea for all 

mental, physical, social, and natural disorders. 

In the body, it was said, that sin brought wrong things 
together — a man and alcohol, &c. — developing pain, conta- 
gion, discords, diseases of all kinds, and death ! It was dis- 
tinctly asserted, moreover, that death and disturbance were 
in the world before man ; seemingly in anticipation of the 
horrid catastrophes which supernatural sin was certainly des- 
tined to develop ! Friends, do you see the deformity of such 
an assertion ? Do you not see that all the " malformed crea- 
tures" and universal " abortions," which Dr. B . alluded 

to, exist nowhere but in his own darkened affections and be- 
clouded reason ? Theology has lamentably distorted his 
vision, circumscribed his affections, crippled his understand- 
ing, and deformed his naturally good powers of judgment. 
Theology has laid waste his love for man ; and his admiration 
of Nature, also, is contracted exceedingly. His conceptions 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 177 

of the harmony and unutterable progressive perfectibility of 
God's works, are exceedingly angular and hugely-fashioned ; 
and, when he looks out upon Nature, from the blistered and 
stained windows of his theological Zion, he sees only his own 
malformed cogitations ; but he very honestly takes them 
to be d.efo7~med fish, grotesque disorders, and the innumerable 
" abortions" caused by the workings of supernatural sin upon 
the physical creation ! And as if his mind had not been 
beclouded and desolated enough by the theology of super- 
naturalism; he summons to his side the no less equivocal 
teachings and testimony of another clergyman, Hugh Miller, 
who, unblushingly, and, to some extent classically, gives in 
his evidence, that the works of God, are, in very truth, 
inter-penetrated and inverted or subverted by the free- 
will crimes of man ! What Dr. B . said concerning 

bodily pain and death, may be found, much better stated, 
in Combe's book on Man ; or, in the phrenological publica- 
tions of the day, associated with the philosophical exposi- 
tion of their obvious causes and important uses in the prov- 
idence of things, and with valuable suggestions as to their 
final extermination. 

Of society, it was said, that sin had laid it nearly in ruins 
— causing, by its power and propagative tendency, war?, 
cheating, murder, massacres, ease, power, luxury, and licen- 
tiousness — all to be considered as the furniture of sin. In 
replying briefly to this statement, I would first call attention 
to the fact, that the most gigantic cruelties, the bloodiest 
wars, the highest spoliations, and the deepest licentiousness, 
and the other crimes and vices supposed, are sanctioned in 
the Old Testament by a " Thus saith the Lord." Does Dr. 

B . remember how the Lord commanded Moses to " war" 

against the Midianites ? Does he remember the spolia- 
tions that were recommended? Does he remember the 
revolting crimes which the Lord permitted the children of 

12 



178 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

Israel to commit ? In view of this — I ask, did man, accord- 
ing to Dr. B 's theory, create and perpetuate these sins? 

Assuredly not. Man is the victim of an oriental and 
demoralizing theology ; which originally sanctioned war and 
all the other sins enumerated. What occasioned that stu- 
pendous war, known as the Crusades ? Did the people gen- 
erate that war by exercising the prerogative of free-will ? — By 
doing as they were not made to do ? Nay ; the thirty years' 
war was a u holy war" — that is to say, an honest and con- 
scientious war — as most all wars are — in which the defenders 
of the faith signalized themselves as valiant " soldiers of the 

cross!" Dr. B . should not, therefore, "blame" man 

for the existence of war, and for analogous evils ; because, 
according to the writers of his theology, there were times 
when the Lord himself commanded bloodshed, and gave par- 
ticular directions, through his holy prophets, as to the locali- 
ties and methods of its accomplishment. 

With regard to theft and licentiousness, I can, for the 

present, only say, that had Dr. B . studied mankind, like 

a rational philosopher, he would have found, that badly- 
constructed and wrongly-situated minds give rise to these 
transient and transitional evils. Fourier has elaborately con- 
sidered the social causes of these evils, and has mathemati- 
cally shown, that a certain organization of Labor, Capital, 
and Talent, will effect the desired cure. If Fourier's posi- 
tions be true, (which no church-disciple has as yet been able 
successfully to controvert,) then we have the plain solution 
of the problem of evil. Ignorance, improper social alliances, 
and immoral situations, — giving rise to antagonisms of indi- 
vidual interests, — these are the simple and self-evident expla- 
nations of sin's existence. Dr. B 's medicine — the re- 
demptive compound — has been tried for many long, eventful 
centuries, and has failed to remedy the evils complained of; 
why not, then, be humanitary and charitable, and let the com- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 179 

bined wisdom of this century use a new panacea in the great 
work of human amelioration ? 

In Nature, it was said, that evil had wrought sad results. 
The so-called facts he adduced on this head I will not stop 
to review. They are not considered of sufficient importance 
to the thinking world. But in regard to the allusion to the 
existence of snakes, fish, and the " abortive flounder," I have 
some impressions which I will presently express. In this 
place, however, I will merely utter my present regret that 

Dr. B . had not familiarized his mind more with Nature. 

It seems that he has studied, or rather observed, an enormous 
and destructive battle among some exasperated ants in this 
city ! The battle-field — a yard square of earth — was strewed 
with the dead, wounded, and dying ! They finally " fought 
for halves, after many of them were bitten into pieces." 

"Thus" — (concluded Dr. B .) — "it is with society." 

Supernatural sin operates even upon the little ants ! Now, 
how much more reasonable would the Lecturer have been, 
had he said, that the loiver we descend in the kingdoms of 
Nature the more cruel and revengeful the creature ; the 
higher we go, the nearer we approach the angels ! 

In conclusion, allow me to give you a concise view of 
Nature as it is. 

As you remember, Dr. B- . complained of Christian 

poets and moralists skipping over the fields of Nature. 
**. They think it is Beautiful." In doing this, he thought that 
they were unfaithful to the Scripture doctrine. He, it. would 
seem, is ready to sacrifice every thing upon the altar of super- 
naturalism, — so degrading to the mind are the fossil vestiges 
of old opinions ! 

Progress, my friends, is a law of Nature. " That was not 
first which is spiritual, but natural, and afterward the spir- 
itual." The fair and beautiful always unfold from the rudest 
beginnings. The first developments of minerals, of vegeta- 



180 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

bles, and animals, are universally low and imperfect. The 
angular form is first ; then succeeds the circular ; then the 
ascending circular, which is the spiral ; and this form merges 
gently into the spiritual. For example, the child is first, 
which is angular ; then the youth, which is hasty and im- 
petuous, because changing from the angular to the circular 
in character ; then comes manhood, which is the perfect cir- 
cular ; then the period of maturity, which is the ascending 
circular, but which soon becomes a spiral, and glides away 
into the spiritual realm of life ! And so all brutes, and birds, 
and fish are developed, primarily, upon the lowest possible 
plane of being. There is a regular chain of beings from the 
little insect to the highest form of matter. The supernatural 
idea that malformations or abortions exist, is derived from a 
perverted and superficial view of the progressive gradations 
of Nature's unceasing developments. It was first necessary 
to invert and misinterpret the true line of progress among 
animals, before a case could be made out to substantiate 
the text : that " the creation groaneth and travaileth together 
in pain until now" — all, it was asserted, in consequence of 
man's voluntary sins ! Such are the logical disclosures of an 
erroneous theology. 

But I am impressed to consider True Theology as the 
holiest and sublimest form of knowledge. It conveys our 
thoughts far away into the peopled realms of infinitude : 
speaks to us of the harmonies and sublimities of eternity ; and 
leads bur affections onward and upward to the Supernal 
Mind. True theology teaches, that every thing is forever 
progressing in goodness and perfection — is eternally grow 
ing more and more lovely, more harmonious, more wise, 
more happy ! 

The time hath been when this planet was but a dark and 
barren desert. Frequent convulsions and earthquakes sent 
into the air black and grotesque rocks — creating, in a mo- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 181 

ment of time, channels for the roll of oceans — and forming 
deep valleys and ravines, dark and dismal as the fabled do- 
minions of Pluto. No bird of song broke the silence ; no 
creeping thing animated the dust. Thus was it once with 
our earth. 

But the eternal principle of Progression continued still to 
exert its mighty power upon the physical elements ; and soon, 
there came forth green leaves from the mountain cliffs, lofty 
palms from the valleys, and sea-mosses quickly gathered, in 
rich profusion, upon the craggy acclivities. 

Another long era passed, and the ocean was peopled with 
living forms — even the earth became animated with mighty 
saurians ; and so, in due order of progression, animals came 
forth — improving, in their type and character, in harmony 
with the advancement and refinement of the elements of food, 
light, air, and the surrounding geographical conditions. And 
finally, as the crowning issue of all — as a coronation of the 
mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms — there came forth 
Man ! And Man, physically and spiritually, has steadily ad- 
vanced from the earliest dawn of human life to the present 
day. Still his course is eternally onward. And the once 
barren and dismal earth is rapidly becoming an incipient 
paradise ! 

Old theology complains, through its popular devotees, "that 
Nature is too much praised !" Indeed ! Nature too much 
praised ? Nay, it can not be ! He who would study the 
works and ways of God, must contemplate nature ; and the 
creation can not be examined, without inspiring the true 
mind with gratitude, delight, and religion. Nature teaches 
that low and imperfect forms always precede high and beau- 
tiful creations. But Nature, my friends, is not limited to this 
little planet ; neither to the myriads of earths and systems in 
space ; nor to the infinite system of suns in the upper skies ; it 
is the boundless universe, and " beautiful" as the Living God ! 



182 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

Love-streams break forth from the deep depths of Deity, 
like the impetuous gushings of a mighty fountain. In its 
deep harmonious workings, it sends its startling energies 
through myriads of planets at the same moment — arousing 
the little germs, which lie hidden and slumbering in the earth, 
into the joy of being — yet, there is no discord; for Wisdom 
describes the method of the vast accomplishments. As pro- 
gress is the law ; so the development of every thing is grad- 
uated upon an infinite scale. Trees grow from the earth 
upward. And there is a harmony more or less perfect in 
every thing. The coral worm works with harmonious skill, 
and builds the mighty reefs ; against which the ponderous 
waves of old ocean may perpetually roll ; and upon these 
islands cities might stand secure for ages. The song of birds, 
too, and the waving willow, blend together in harmonious 
motion. Sweet fountains gush forth musically; melodies 
break forth from rippling lakes ; the summer winds breathe 
joyfully over the green fields ; and the distant valleys mur- 
mur forth a peaceful hymn ! But this natural harmony is 
more and more perfected as we ascend the spiritual scale of 
being. The songs of birds foreshadow the perfections of the 
human voice. The sweet harmonies of the midsummer 
season faintly typify the diversified beauties of the Spirit 
Land ! Nature, I repeat, is beautiful as the Living God ; 
because it is his Temple. 



THE DYING DOGMAS, 



The antagonisms existing between the popular dogmas of 
theology and the plainest declarations of Reason, are hourly 
becoming more and more distinct and visible. All efforts to 
harmonize them must ultimate in disappointment and defeat. 
Because there exists no essential affinity between them, no 
indwelling principle of common sympathy, around which a 
unitary organization of reason and theology could only be 
permanently established. Of this there can be but one ex- 
planation. The dogmas of theology originated at a period 
when the human mind had not yet put forth its energetic 
faculties of understanding. Reason is a recent develop- 
ment. It has not yet appeared in its true ministry and 
glory ; but, slowly as unfolds the spring vegetation, reason is 
appearing in the broad horizon of the moral world, — darting 
its penetrative illuminations far away into the abysses of 
ignorance, and most powerfully into the gloomy retreats of 
long-fostered dogmas. These bequeathments of the past, 
these idols of the sacerdotal orders of men, must now be 
uncovered and examined. A lifeless and godless form may 
be draped in the holiest garments ; and, to all external seem- 
ing, the worshiped idol may present evidences of possessing 
a divine energy and spirit ; but the devotee, should he allow 
the reason-principle to perform its functions, will instantly 
become sufficiently clairvoyant to perceive the emptiness of 
the dogma, and its utter inapplicability to the present wants 
of the age. 



184 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

Now it can not be denied that the current churches are 
the legitimate children of the Catholic organization ; which 
is the most extraordinary religious institution on the face of 
the earth, considered either as a political or as a moral com- 
bination of educated men and spiritual forces. However, 
there is a manifest difference between the progenitor and 
the children. This consists, simply, in the seemingly spir- 
itual character of Protestant churches, also in the mental 
liberties which give rise to democratic institutions of educa- 
tion, and to the still greater blessing of free, representative 
governments. Nevertheless, there are points of analogy 
between the parent and the offspring ; which, as honest in- 
vestigators, we should not fail to recognize and reveal. 

As educated Protestants, we stand in open hostility to 
the graven images and idolatrous ceremonials of the Catholic 
institution. Wherefore ? Because we hold image-worship 
to be utterly incompatible with true religion ; and irrecon- 
cilable with all reverence due the one only and eternal God. 
Very well. We, therefore, divest our churches of all idols ; 
and, in the same proportion, we abandon many forms, and 
leave ceremonial-worship to the poor, benighted, imbecile 
devotees of the Catholic religion. How is this ? Do we 
truly, as Protestants, destroy all idols, and worship God only 
in spirit and in truth ? Let us see. As logical and ortho- 
dox Protestants, we still adhere to certain cardinal principles 
in theology, as unequivocally essential to the soul's eternal 
salvation ; also, as the divine doctrines destined to be uni- 
versally recognized and potentialized, under the direct de- 
scension of the Divine energy — the Holy Ghost — to the final 
destruction of all heathenism, and the reconciliation of all 
things to the glorious liberty of the children of God. 

These cardinal doctrines we have carefully examined, 
harmonized, pronounced them "good;" and deposited them 
in the theological armory, as our beloved [idols] dogmas or 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 185 

sacredized essentials. The first essential is " original sin," 
recently defined as being supernatural. The Protestant 
church assigns to this idol a conspicuous position. It is 
necessary that the people should behold it frequently. 
Hence it is placed in demi-relievo, and learnedly described, 
at regular intervals, as the foundation of all troubles in this 
terrestrial sphere, — as the grand cause of the unspeakable 
manifestations of divine mercy, detailed in Scripture. But 
here a question appears. Clergymen dwell devoutly on the 
glorious attributes of the Creator. They can not enough 
express their growing gratitude for the " Revelation" of the 
Divine will and promises. The advent of the only-begotten 
Son, too ; this is the grand consummation of all deific love 
and wisdom — the ne plus ultra of all conceivable mercy and 
providential manifestation. But is it so ? Strange thought ! 
The realms of spiritual existence contain no such deformed 
conception of the deific nature and attributes. Ponder the 
supposition ! Think you that man could ascertain nothing 
of the Divine Mind through this universe of life and anima- 
tion ? Was it necessary to plunge the human family into 
the depths of discord and degeneration, in order to reveal 
the Divine attributes to the human affections and reason ? 
Was it first necessary to allow the race to generate every 
description of iniquity, and become dead in trespasses and 
sins, before the attributes of mercy, love, and wisdom could 
be manifested to the earth-children ? If clergymen eulogize 
the effects, they certainly can not but condemn the cause 
and the occasion. It is no better than the oft-uttered asser- 
tion, that poverty and squalid wretchedness are expressly 
designed as means to develop and exercise the Christian 
virtues termed kindness, brotherly love, and charity ; while, 
in real truth, poverty and want are the symptoms of a de- 
fective social condition, which symptoms, well-organized 
talents and industry will effectually remove ; and then the 



186 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

virtues may be normally exercised in the higher spheres of 
human life and interests. Nevertheless, the church idol — 
" original sin" — must be kept before the people. The devotee 
must first examine, (for this is a glorious attribute or privi- 
lege of Protestantism ;) then believe ; then, to be truly ortho- 
dox, he must worship. " In time of. peace prepare for war ;" 
which, in this supernatural department of human interest, 
signifies the preparation and formidable array of clerical 
talents and cogent argumentations, against the approach of 
the vast army of modern sciences and discoveries, whose 
leader and commander is Reason. 

The second essential is "the Atonement," which is now 
undergoing extensive repairs. Several very distinguished 
and adequately qualified sculptors in theology, are now 
laboring, with a commendable zeal and integrity of motive, 
being actuated by the desire and design of elaborating a 
certain rationalistic " atonement ;" which they confidently 
believe will meet the reasonable demands of the most intelli- 
gent and logical mind in Protestant Christendom. This 
religious reformation has not escaped the attention of Dr. 
Bushnell. He has himself done something toward giving 
the Christian world a more comprehensible theory of " God 
in Christ ;" though it can not but be regretted, that, in his 
effort to be both classical and natural, independent and truly 
faithful to the old masters, he has too deeply buried this 
beautiful and energetic work of art. Several Unitarians 
are now preparing to repair the idol of Protestantism. 
Unfortunately, however, they have resolved to copy too 
accurately many things from the prevailing orthodox pattern. 

The New Churchmen * are entirely settled as to the perfect 

E 
and eternal interpretation of this supernatural problem. 

The interior import of all visible idols in the primitive his- 

* " The Seer," the author's forthcoming work, will contain several impressions 
concerning this form of theology. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 187 

tory, is clear as the blue vault of heaven to their unfolded 
faculties ; and so, like the Second Advent people, they de- 
voutly and confidently await the " time" when the New 
Jerusalem, the Holy City, will come down, from God, out of 
heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband. 

Nor is this all. The third essential is " faith ;" which is 
also undergoing the most astounding alterations. This idol 
is situated, in the Protestant church, directly opposite to the 
other just considered. The recent efforts put forth to place 
this graven image upon a philosophical pedestal — to establish 
it upon the everlasting foundation of nature and reason — 
may be regarded as the premonitory indications of the inter- 
regnum which is about to appear in the religious world. 
Men formerly received all spiritual nourishment, like infants, 
through the vessels of the affections ; which is the primary 
or rudimental process ; it is invariably characteristic of the 
most incipient and uncultivated stage of mental develop- 
ment. But having spiritually become men, like Paul, they 
very naturally " put away childish things ;" and, among those 
things, numerous minds have been amazed to discover their 
creeds — the cherished idols of childhood. Dr. Bushnell is 
not alone in the field of altering the theologic faith. It is a 
precious idol to abandon ; especially, when the mind has not 
attained to "the fullness of the stature" of passional and 
judgmental harmony. Hence, very many individuals have 
chiseled out a new form of religious faith. But when the 
deeper analysis comes, the same deformed and decrepit idol 
is' revealed ; which was first worshiped through the medium 
of the unenlightened affections. The exact truth is spoken 
when I say, that Christendom is now as a slumbering vol- 
cano! The conflicting elements lie underneath all this fair 
exterior. The thunders of a stupendous reformation are 
soon to issue from the now open mouth of the Protestant 
church. The supernatural faith will be shaken as a reed in 



188 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

the tempest. New channels will be formed for the inflow- 
ing of new truths ; and then, a long-promised Era will steal 
upon the religious and political world. It will come forth 
like the hurricane ; but its action will be gentle as the 
breathing of flowers. It will sound like the thunderings of 
the mountainous water-fall ; but its influence upon the world 
will be as the music of " many waters" to the ear of the 
care-worn and thirsty pilgrim. It will appear as a moral 
pestilence, breeding internal agonies and mental despair ; but 
it will be as the spirit of a glorious divinity, floating unseen 
among us, " creeping, like the summer winds, from flower to 
flower." Such are the impressions which I receive con- 
cerning the approaching crisis. "Faith," the present idol 
of Protestantism, will be essentially altered, modified, and 
transformed into a milestone to indicate the highway and 
progression of humanity. Like the pyramids, it will stand 
as a monument of what the ages have erected in the human 
world ; and, as such, it will forever possess interest to the 
historian, to the antiquarian, and the spiritual philosopher. 

The fourth essential is " free agency ;" which is being 
re-examined and logically prepared for exhibition. This is 
the greatest dogma in the orthodox church. It is an idol of 
the utmost importance. All theology would be flying in the 
wind, like the tempest-torn sails of a ship, if it were not for 
the potent presence of this graven image. It is a strange 
work of art ! Blocked out by the old masters, subsequently 
chiseled by the professional artists in theology, and placed 
upon the pedestal of mere assertion, it has become the most 
favorite Idol in the Protestant institution. Should any 
rationalistic disorder or epidemic prevail, the "doctors of 
divinity" forthwith diagnosticate the pathognomonic symp- 
toms of Free Agency, to ascertain conclusively whether the 
contagion really extends to the cardinal dogma, or to the 
others. If not ; then nothing is said. If so ; then comes a 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 189 

period of theological fumigation. That is, the clergy attempt 
to produce a kind of intellectual blindness among the people, 
by decomposing, apparently, a few rationalistic arguments 
with the flame of their burning eloquence. Such an effort 
has been recently made ; as we have seen by the discourses 
" on supernaturalism," under review. 

How, then, does the matter really stand? Are Prot- 
estants not idolaters ? The Catholic has his " holy virgin" 
in the form of a female statue ; but we also have a " holy 
virgin" in the form of a man-made book. The Catholic has 
sacred saints ; but we have sacred dogmas. You perceive, 
then, my friends, that Catholics and Protestants are alike 
idolatrous : the latter being so, intellectually ; and the 
former, sensually. The two forms of religious faith and 
culture are not essentially distinct ; only antagonistic in re- 
gard to the ways and means of worship. The logical accu- 
racy of this will appear in the sequel. Can we, then, con- 
tinue to worship these theologic idols ? Can we still cherish 
them as the only beings that have brought life and immor- 
tality to light ? Children play with balls ; but men amuse 
themselves with the rolling planets. Young intellects cher- 
ish every thing through an exercise of the sightless affec- 
tions ; but matured minds love all things which flow easily 
through the understanding. Such are truly harmonial phi- 
losophers. We, then, as Protestants in Protestantism — being 
moved to address Protestants as they formerly decried the 
heresies of the Catholic church — must faithfully ignore those 
dogmas which pertain to the popular theology. 

The position of the clergy, amid these sacerdotal idols, is 
potent to sustain error. The most charitable interpretation 
which an enlightened mind can indulge in, is the probable 
honesty of all men who continue to preach the antiquated 
doctrines. This conclusion, however, must be mainly 
grounded in benevolence ; for " how," many ask, " can a 



190 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. s 

man remodel and perpetually interpret an idea in theology, 
as truth, when the plainest declarations of science demon- 
strate it to be an error ?" The only answer is, " Men love 
darkness rather than light," when they have not sufficient 
independence and integrity of soul to cast aside all forms, 
and " worship God in spirit and in truth." The friends of 
true freedom have had occasion to regret a recent manifes- 
tation of this mental condition. 

Dr. B . has labored to infuse new vitality into the old 

dogmas ; but the process seems like the action of the gal- 
vanic force upon the lifeless body. The muscles contract 
violently ; the arms fly up against the silent breast ; the 
mouth opens ; the eyes glare like angry lions upon the 
people ; and the strange phenomena immediately disappear. 
So will all efforts terminate, which are designed to add new 
lustre to the dogmas of Christendom. You who do not be- 
lieve so, may engage in the godless task ; for experience is 
still the best schoolmaster to those who can not discern the 
signs of the times. 

The advocate of supernaturalism, as he unfolded his 
method, appeared, to the reviewer, in the midst of church 
doctrines, which he was about to impregnate with new theo- 
logic animation. Behind stood the idol called " Original 
Sin ;" on the right, the idol called " The Atonement ;" on the 
left, the idol called " Faith ;" and before him, higher than all 
the others, stood the idol termed "Free Agency." This 
idol was considered vastly superior to the others in the dis- 
cussion ; because, in the opinion of the Lecturer, it was the 
great thing to establish, as a basis upon which to rest the 
utility and essentiality of the pre-arranged dogmas. The 
doctrine of " moral freedom," therefore, will be more partic- 
ularly reviewed on this occasion. In this connection, how- 
ever, it should be understood that the Lecturer did not 
present what we would consider cogent reasons to sustain 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 191 

the affirmative. He depended mainly upon the superficial 
reasons already given ; and placed himself too confidently 
upon his consciousness, and upon his prevailing sensations of 
freedom, to establish the favorite doctrine. This cognitional 
source of our present being, he considered the " self-evident" 
demonstration. I will, therefore, first proceed to reveal the 
fallacy of this conclusion ; and then I will consider the ques- 
tion as it is in nature. 

It was repeatedly affirmed, as you remember, that " moral 
freedom is a matter of consciousness" — " every body feels 
and knows his liberty," and so forth ; which, compared with 
the evidences heretofore considered, was the principal proof 
presented to substantiate a doctrine so essentially important 
to the consistence of the other dogmas. The witness, then, 
which is called to appear and impart testimony in the pend- 
ing trial, is consciousness. You will observe, that this term 
has a signification quite distinct from the word conscience. 
Conscience means the internal faculty of knowing ; a self- 
knowledge of what constitutes Right and Wrong. But con- 
sciousness, on the other hand, signifies something more 
sensuous ; a knowledge of operations and sensations passing 
in one's own mind ; or, the mental phenomenon termed, a 
cognition of external objects through the medium of the 
senses. Now the question is : Can the character of this 
witness be shown to be above impeachment ? Was it never 
known to impart, to the court of the human understanding, 
any false and contradictory impressions ? If this witness 
never deceived the judgment, then it is, indeed and truly, 
the most complete demonstration of the dogma under present 
analysis. But if, on the contrary, it can be shown to be a 
very treacherous and imperfect delineator of truth ; then the 
testimony deposed by this witness, can have no important 
weight in a case of such momentous interest. Let this wit- 



192 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

ness, therefore, be cross-questioned in order to arrive at the 
actual pro and con in the premises. 

Metaphysicians have divided all the consciousness of our 
mental being into five distinct compartments, termed the five 
senses. The sensation of existence, is consciousness. The 
windows and doors, through which this sensation goes out 
from and re-enters the sensorium, are the eyes, the ears, the 
smell, the taste, and the more general sense of feeling by the 
nervous mechanism. All ideas of the contrariety of objects 
and influences, constituting the material world, are derived 
through our conscious existence, as defined by the senses. 
The senses, then, may be regarded as the divisions of con- 
sciousness ; the different channels through which the nerve- 
spirit of our present life receives influences and imparts 
impressions to the understanding. 

I hope it will not be considered presumption, should I here 
affirm, that Dr. Bushnell is organized in these respects pre- 
cisely like every other man; that, therefore, his personal 
declarations, concerning the consciousness of the utter free- 
dom of the soul, are worth, in the present investigation, as 
much, to say the least, as the assertions of any other intelli- 
gent individual. 

Now I am moved to afiirm, that human consciousness is a 
very equivocal and unreliable source of knowledge. Where- 
fore ? Because we are constantly deceived by our sensations. 
The senses frequently fail to impart accurate impressions to 
the mind. According to all human consciousness, this earth 
is neither globular nor revolving. Aside from the opposition 
founded upon the so-called heresy of asserting the revolution 
of our planet, Galileo was opposed and confronted by the 
universal consciousness of the race, that the earth was a vast 
permanent surface, whose edge had not yet been discovered. 
The same thing is believed to-day by thousands of minds. 
Our senses declare to us, very distinctly, that the Sun and 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 193 

Moon roll round the earth — rising uniformly in the east, 
and disappearing behind the western hills. The diurnal 
motion of the earth is against, every man's consciousness ; 
that is, this witness does not impart a truthful impression to 
the understanding. 

Two years since, while on a visit in the State of New 
Jersey, a very industrious although uneducated farmer, 
confessed to me his utter inability to believe in the revolution 
of this orb every twenty -four hours. " Why," he exclaimed, 
" it is against my consciousness ; against the positive testi- 
mony of my senses. Do n't I see the sun going from east to 
west ? On the earth, as you know, there are millions of 
movable things and great bodies of water. If my house 
was turned bottomside up once a day, would n't the chairs, 
and the crockery, and every thing movable therein, fall from 
their places and be dashed into pieces ? A pail filled with 
water, you very well know, being turned upside down, would 
necessarily be immediately emptied of its contents ; and so, 
if this earth turned upside down, as people say, would n't all 
things be thrown out of order, and the lakes and rivers be 
emptied of their waters ?" This man's honest argument, 
fallacious as it was, very accurately and forcibly represents 
Dr. Bushnell's dogmatic assertion, that his consciousness 
was a plain demonstration of the freedom of the will. 

Again : this witness is not reliable, or sufficiently unwaver- 
ing to be received as proper evidence ; because it is known 
to be extremely susceptible to morbid developments and ten- 
dencies. Many present are confounded by the strange 
operation of internal sensations, as derived from external 
sources. A morbid brain is conscious of various inconsist- 
ences. Insane minds imagine — that is, believe the concurrent 
testimony of their consciousness — that they are certain great 
distinguished characters : Napoleon, Paul, Alexander, and so 
forth ; and with as much calmness of pretension, too, as 

13 



194 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

would befit the most sane Christian. An intoxicated mind, 
with the blood whirling in the cerebral recesses and vessels, 
is conscious of strange motions among the objects about 
him. Should he declare his consciousness, on going forth 
from the brothel into the street, he would affirm he saw the 
street revolving like the wings of a windmill, and the lofty 
steeples toppling from their foundations. I would inquire : 
Which is in motion ? The external objects ? Or, the morbid 
consciousness ? Now, it is by no means an impossible or 
unnatural thing to suppose a clergyman's mind to be some- 
what intoxicated with the spirit of certain dying dogmas, 
even to imagining himself a perfectly free moral being on 
the testimony of his morbid consciousness. 

Enough has been adduced to invalidate the evidence of 
Dr. B 's principal witness. Its character for prevarica- 
tion and waywardness, is sufficiently made to appear. It is 
not even reliable on the greatest astronomical fact ever 
revealed to man. Consequently, the rationalistic mind is 
absolutely forced to seek for evidence in other directions. 
The enlightened judgment, independent of the ordinary plane 
of consciousness, is forced to consult well-ascertained data, 
before it can arrive at clear and satisfactory conclusions 
on any given subject. 

I come now to the negative consideration of moral free- 
dom ; which is, that there is no such a fact in existence as 
absolute independence of the human will. 

In the first place, let me describe to you the conditions 
upon which alone man could be a perfectly free moral being. 
The pre-consultations considered as essential to the moral 
freedom of the first man, Adam, in the great experiment of 
life, are still necessary to every individual. The Christian 
church has always had some vague doctrines concerning the 
pre-existence of the soul. Indeed, when we except the 
speculations of Thomas Dick and the universal analogies of 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 195 

Swedenborg. Christians have cherished the most mystical 
and unsatisfactory opinions of the other life — more vague, 
even, than the traditional myths and beliefs of the North 
American Indians. For present purposes, however, we will 
suppose the pre-existence of every human spirit. On this 
hypothesis, I will now state the conditions which are required 
in order to establish the dogma of man's moral freedom. 

The parent should have a conversation with the soul of 
his child, previous to the bestowment of a physical body. 
The language should convey to the unterrestrialized spirit 
this unmistakable information : " This material world is a 
valley of trials and misfortune. It is replete with hard sub- 
stances which the spirit can use only through the mediation 
of physical agents. The external world is now — indeed, it 
always has been — undergoing slow and gradual changes ; 
and philosophers say, these unceasing alterations will in time 
render this world a serener and more spiritual field of exist- 
ence." The spirit here asks : " Will you inform me how 
the inhabitants appear ?" " The present human race," re- 
plies the parent, "is rude, impulsive, and imperfect. It is 
known to consist of different tribes or nations, manifesting 
considerable varieties of external appearance, and employ- 
ing diverse kinds of languages. These nations have not 
outgrown war ; nor the causes of discord and wretchedness. 
Poverty and wealth, indolence and industry, ignorance and 
wisdom, present the strangest contrasts ; and the world makes 
in the issue a strange dream, which the human mind here- 
after cherishes as the daguerreotype impression and history of 
its earth-life. But notwithstanding all this, there is more than 
enough to compensate man for his strange, eventful passage 
from birth to the final result. We have love, and friend- 
ship, and consequent joys : each twining around the family 
circle, wreathing the plowman's heart, and inspiring the 
merchant's mind with dreams of wealth and enterprise. We 



196 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

have rolling seas, beautiful rivers, mountains swelling with 
life and loveliness, a sun of ineffable brilliancy, and an earth 
filled with countless stores of luxurious wealth ; and all for 
man! Now, continues the parent, I desire you to become 
my son, clothed in a physical vesture. But we have a 
religion that teaches the moral freedom of every man ; be- 
cause this doctrine is alone compatible with the plan of 
redemption, which is said to have been instituted expressly 
for our future salvation ; but which can prove availing only 
when accepted in the freedom of the human will. God can 
not save, they say, unless man is entirely willing. There- 
fore, I desire you to exercise your freedom in becoming the 
offspring of an earthly parent." 

" What is the position of a son ?" inquires the spirit. 

" To learn some particular trade or profession ; and to do 
battle with the world of free but conflicting powers about 
him." 

" What is the position of a daughter ?" 

" A daughter has a different sphere. The home, the family, 
and the social circles are her proper fields of action." 

" Then," says the spirit, " if I come to earth I prefer being 
a daughter. But tell me further : what are the nations 
called?" 

We may now suppose the parent informing the spirit of 
the names of the different nations, with their colors, declaring 
himself to be a European. 

" From what you say," replies the spirit, " I will not be 
born into a physical body, unless I can be a Caucasian or an 
American. Nor will I consent to become a Christian ; for, 
according to your relations, it would be better for my exter- 
nal welfare if I should be born where the Christian religion 
is not known or preached ; hence, I will only be born on the 
planet Jupiter or Saturn. • Neither will I consent to be born 
with any physical or mental defect. I require perfection in 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 197 

every particular ; thus to be all the more capable of exercis- 
ing my moral freedom. I will not consent to accept any de- 
rangement in my temperaments ; neither in my powers of 
comprehension. If, therefore, you can impart to me all I 
now demand, physically and mentally, I will consent to be 
born into the material world, and take the eternal salvation 
of my soul upon my own responsibility." 

Such a final decision would certainly be made by every 
well-informed spirit, should it be enlightened, and thus con- 
sulted, as to the liberty of choice, prior to its advent upon 
this or any other planet. And the dogma of moral freedom 
can not exist, rationally and intelligibly explained, upon any 
other conceivable basis. As the doctrine now stands inter- 
preted, it assuredly has nothing to recommend it to the intel- 
ligent mind. The assumptions of divines on this head can 
have no important bearing ; when every individual is known 
to be forced, uninformed and unconsulted, into this breathing 
world, frequently " deformed, half-made up," and with a " na- 
tionality," and complexion, too, which may prove a blessing or 
a curse, just as the tide of human prejudice may chance to flow 
at the time. Think you, that any being would consent to be born 
with a black skin, or with a defective organization ? Would 
any free moral being consent, on the supposition of possessing 
all due information, to be introduced into this life with one 
leg shorter than the other ? — With an imbecile brain ? — With 
a hare-lip ? — With a predisposition to consumption and scrof- 
ula ? — Or, with any other disorder, physical or mental, which 
children are compelled to accept with their birth ? The 
utter absurdity of the idea breaks upon the mind with a re- 
doubled force, when suggested by the monstrous assertions 
of the clergy, that "we are created free moral powers!" 
The very fact of beginning to be, implies a primary depend- 
ance of the creature upon the Creative Principle. 

All intelligent mechanics know, that a human invention of 



198 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

"■ perpetual motion" would be possible were it not for the pri- 
mary necessity of employing perishable materials, and driv- 
ing home the last screw — implying, thus, that the " motion" 
would have a beginning, and, consequently, a certain termi- 
nation. Even so, when considered as to its derivation, the 
human soul is the result of the harmonious action of a Creative 
Principle in Nature ; and it depends as much upon the eternal 
existence of the divine Creator for its everlasting being as the 
heart depends upon the presence of the human spirit for life 
and energy. 

If you should study the science of man, my friends, you 
will observe that all liberty or freedom is comparative ; not 
absolute. All will is consequent; not primary. The soul 
does not will itself into being ; but, after its existence and or- 
ganization are determined, then the inherited force, through 
will, sets the mechanism in motion. If the physical arrange- 
ments are not from birth harmonious ; the ivill can not 
render them so. Because the will-faculty is an effect of the 
mental combinations ; not a cause of them. A child has the 
will, or the desire, to play in the fields ; but the determining- 
power can accomplish nothing, unless the body is well and 
the limbs free from paralysis. Will, moreover, can not exist 
as an independent faculty of mind ; because it is a conditional 
and interfixed power — receiving promptings from the pas- 
sions, and admonitions from the judgment. If the will acts 
by the instigations of the reason ; then it is merely the lever 
of the directing power. Or, if will acts by impulses pro- 
ceeding from the passions ; then, as before, it is executing 
the impetuous suggestions of a cause upon which it, (the will,) 
as an effect, must necessarily depend. Will, therefore, is 
not a self-causing and self-determining power ; but it is, when 
carefully defined, the focus of the mind. 

The human spirit, as I see it, is composed of actuating 
springs, which are Love ; and regulating faculties, which are 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS, 199 

Wisdom. These, combined and organized, constitute a 
thinking sun. This spiritual sun, like its representative in 
the heavens, sends off rays in all directions. These rays are 
inclinations. The reflection or refraction of these inclina- 
tions, upon the countless external objects which develop and 
attract them, forms & focus in the mind. At this point all the 
rays converge, and, when all external and contiguous condi- 
tions are favorable, the full force of the internal sun (the 
mind) is manifested at this focus. This focus is the will. It 
is no more independent of the powers which contain the incli- 
nations, and which emit them, than the focal point in a lens 
is independent of the rays of the sun. 

The metaphysical nature of the subject, prevents a clearer 
illustration ; which, taken in connection with the fact that 
no human mind can perfectly analyze and comprehend itself, 
must serve to explain away all ambiguity in the description. 
The hurried nature of this review, moreover, does not en- 
courage any elaborate considerations of this kind. They are 
deferred to a more requisite occasion ; when another, but 
more carefully prepared, criticism may be called forth from 
the author. Till then, we will let this point rest ; and pro- 
ceed to consider man in relation to the world. 

You ask : " Are you not mistaken in affirming the partial 
freedom of man ? Do we not behold examples of moral 
liberty in every man ?" To this I reply briefly. As you rec- 
ollect, Kossuth, the brilliant Hungarian Governor, was refer- 
red to as a fine example of a Man in the exercise of his 
freedom. Now it seems to me the merest insight into the 
true philosophy of human existence and events would have 
prevented the reference altogether. Development is a trans- 
parent principle of nature ; and mankind is the coronation 
of all the nature which pertains to this earth. It is self-evi- 
dent that great events develop great men. A Washington 
appears when the occasion requires. Giants are slumbering : 



200 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

because there is no temple to overthrow. Should this people 
be suddenly oppressed by the invasion of a foreign army, the 
pressure would develop a Washington as naturally as the 
spring unfolds the flower. So Kossuth is a development, of 
the times and events of his country. His love of Liberty 
was born with him, by the direct action of psychological 
laws upon his unfolding nature. Several of his relations 
were the victims of Tyranny to which, very naturally, 
his mother became an ardent but speechless foe ! If the ex- 
ternal circumstances did not exist ; the great " centerstance," 
Kossuth, would not be to-day known as the influential Angel 
of Liberty. To believe that he is self-determining and self- 
directing is to believe contrary to truth; for he is, like the 
head upon the human body, the sensorium and mouth-piece 
of the Hungarian body to which, by the most endearing ties, 
he is firmly attached. He is, therefore, acting out his para- 
mount impulses as spontaneously as (but no more so than) the 
rose breathes forth its native fragrance. True, his liberty is 
greater than the rose ; hence he does more, enjoys more, has 
greater privileges ; in exact proportion to which are his re- 
sponsibilities — not to the supernatural sphere, remember, but 
to the events and people by which he is supported. Thus, if 
the Hungarian is an example of moral freedom, he is, also, an 
illustration of moral dependence as growing out of the uni- 
versal relationship of all created things. If you will but 
study his very emotional organization, in connection with the 
power of circumstances to develop man, I am quite certain 
your legitimate conclusions will be analogous. 

Methinks there now arises another question : " Is not man 
free to go where and to do what he wills ? Can he not " 
journey from city to city, and steal and murder, when he 
desires ?" 

The problem of " blamable wrong" now begins to appear. 
From the theological presentation of the question, it may be 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 201 

difficult for many minds to turn away, as they should, in 
order to study the nature of man with an eye singled to the 
acquisition of truthful conclusions. If you divest your minds 
of all supernaturalistic notions, and analyze the individual 
relations which subsist between every man and the external 
world of effects, the truth will surely break upon you in all 
its beautiful connections and simplicity. 

As already shown, every man's freedom is comparative 
and conditional ; not absolute or uncaused. It is, in other 
words, the result of certain conspiring causes ; hence, it is 
not self-subsisting, but dependent. Suppose, for example, you 
Will to visit the city of Boston. Now this will can have no 
external manifestation or accomplishment, unless all the outer 
contingences, over which you individually can have no abso- 
lute control, are conspiring to aid you. You depend upon 
bodily health, upon the existence of safe and certain means of 
conveyance, and so forth ; which must all be in full operation 
before you can accomplish the end of the will. These are 
common sense affirmations which every one of my audience 
fully comprehends. 

But let us look at this matter, as the clergy do, from a 
moral posture. Suppose an individual had high duties, as 
personal responsibilities are termed, in Boston, which require 
his immediate presence and attention. And there being no 
physical hinderances to prevent him from going directly 
among them, upon which an excuse might be properly 
based ; still he does not, or will not, go forthwith and dis- 
charge those duties ; the question is : " Is not that man doing, 
in some sense, a blamable wrong ?" Or, let us again suppose, 
a man is a partner in business. He plans, with the utmost 
subtilty and care, the impoverishment of his companion ; and, 
having accomplished his designs, he leaves the country with 
all his partner's earnings and his own ; the question is : " Is 
not that man doing a blamable wrong ?" Or, to suppose still 



202 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

further, one man assassinates another, committing the double 
crime of murder and robbing ; the question is : " Is not that 
man doing a blamable wrong?" I think the question of 
"blamable wrong," in connection with the problem of moral 
freedom, is here stated in full force ; and my answer, in order 
to be adequately apprehended, must commence with the con- 
sideration of a few principles, to which I now solicit your 
attention. 

Man, as we have seen, is introduced into existence without 
any previous consultation as to his desires or choice. This 
is, to commence with, a total violation of the conditions of 
moral freedom. Because, if the theologic assumptions be 
true, the individual is in danger of ultimating in everlasting 
woe — his chances being, according to the calculations of 
some divines, one to seventy-five. All this is irreconcilable 
with the workings of a divine Perfection. A free moral 
power should have its choice consulted as to the nature it 
will accept, and the laws to regulate it. Contrary to this, no 
man creates the laws of his finite being ; they are made for 
him ; and he, as an inevitable sequence, is compelled to obey 
them. Man, therefore, in the consciousness of his being, is 
not self-causing or self-determining in any sense ; but is the 
issue of certain creative principles, which he can no more 
break or subvert than a planet can leave the orbit in which 
the laws of condensation and gravitation have fixed it, and 
take independent voyages through the firmament. 

Man, I repeat, is not the creator of the inexorable laws of 
his being ; hence, he is their everlasting subject ; hence, too, 
he obeys. The paramount law of his nature, which he can not 
alter, is Attraction. He obeys this law every instant of time ; 
true as the needle to the positive magnet. For present pur- 
poses, I will denominate this law, Interest ; because your 
minds will more readily apprehend the signification of the term. 
Interest, I say, then, is the ruling principle of every human 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 203 

being ; no one can act without it, nor feel the disposition to 
act. It operates in all degrees or spheres of existences, with 
the same philosophical precision and determination. No 
man has a will superior to his attractive or moving principle; 
he can not have ; his will is merely the agent, or fulcrum, 
whereby this law, like a lever, moves the individual from point 
to point, from attraction to attraction, among the countless 
contrarieties which make up existence. Perhaps, my friends, 
you^think me too abstract ; but I know I am not so to the 
over-seeing and comprehensive intellect. However, let me 
bring the subject home to the individual. 

Suppose you now will to walk into the street : the ques- 
tion is — " How came you to feel that will ?" There is surely 
an antecedent somewhere, and generated by something. You 
can not will to walk hence, unless the attraction here dimin- 
ishes, permitting another attraction to obtain the ascendency 
in your minds. The paramount or chief attraction you are 
under the necessity of obeying. But in this you may become 
confused, like a flock of sheep whose leader is lost in hesita- 
tion ; or, like the tides which, while changing from one point 
of attraction to another, form eddies and contrary currents. 
These eddies and contrary currents, in human affairs and 
deeds, are the very matters about which the clergy are per- 
petually preaching. Upon them, the priesthood predicate all 
their theories of man's moral freedom ; and I fear it will be 
long ere the doctors of divinity can be prevailed upon to 
study man, and the profound philosophy of existence. Men 
would move in the paths of rectitude as naturally and spon- 
taneously as the planets roll in their respective orbits, with- 
out manifesting disorder ; if they were, like those planets, 
subject only to a single unchangeable law of attraction, 
always developing uniform results. But with man the case 
is different. He possesses within himself innumerable affini- 
ties ; and, hence, is subject to the influence of countless at- 



204 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

tractions. These set in upon him from all directions, at the 
same time, causing him to hesitate, to deliberate, to decide, 
and finally to act in accordance with the parmount attraction. 
This is all the moral freedom there is in the constitution of 
things. I will verify this on another occasion. 

Now comes the solution of the questions propounded. But 
first let me direct your attention to the fact, that all the 
trouble, discords, and abominations in this world arise from 
the conflict between the laws of nature and the government 
of society. The laws of nature are implanted in the con- 
stitution of every man ; but he does not and can not so truly 
feel the laws of society. These are the creations of igno- 
rant and finite man; and they are at war with the laws of 
nature, because they are wrong and unjust. The individual, 
therefore, is situated between two contending forces — the 
imperative laws of nature, and the restrictive laws of society 
— and the connection generates all the evils in the world. 
Society says to the man, "your duties, sir, lie in Boston — 
you must proceed there immediately. " But the law of nature, 
in him, does not affirm the same thing. This law is superior 
in its influence upon his Will ; indeed, he feels only this law, 
accompanied with its attractions or interests, and can only 
happily obey it ; yet the social law he may fear exceedingly ; 
and, this gaining the ascendency in his mind, he proceeds to 
obey it, with certain internal conflicts which he is theologi- 
cally taught to term, " compunctions of conscience." His 
mind may be so undeveloped that only ordinary desires and 
attractions can affect him. Hence, while my mind might 
esteem his attractions of character as low and demoralizing, 
he, on the other hand, might consider my attractions as 
imaginary and poetical. Hence, too, each being ignorant 
of the other's integrity to the laws of nature, we would com- 
mence blaming one another. I, considered as an orthodox 
clergyman, might call him " a poor miserable sinner ;" and he 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 205 

would call me a penurious shepherd, determined to shear all 
the wool from the flock. So the compliments might be recip- 
rocated ; until, by my superior ability to use language and ar- 
guments, I may finally subdue his voice, overcome all his inor- 
dinate attractions, place my attractions in the ascendency 
before him, and, lo ! I have achieved a conversion of a fellow- 
sinner. Very well : when this method can be philosophically 
practiced, instilling high and humanitary sentiments in the 
undeveloped mind, I will become a co-worker in all religious 
revivals. This is the practical and logical tendency of the 
Harmonial Philosophy. 

But what shall we say concerning the " moral freedom and 
blamable wrong" of the dextrous and faithless partner in busi- 
ness. The practical conclusion of the case is, my friends, that 
society is, to a considerable extent, accountable for his actions. 
I affirm this under the strongest impression of its entire accu- 
racy. If a suit be instituted for damages, it would be far 
more just should the individual bring it against society than 
society against the individual. Society had no right to be so 
defective as to permit such a disaster. If the fire burns a city 
to the earth, what do you say ? Do you blame the fire ? or, 
the defective use made of it, and the combustible nature of 
the dwellings ? Surely, a fire-proof house is the best pre- 
ventative against a fire. So with our social organization. 
If it is not murder-proof, theft-proof, and proof against the 
evils complained of; it assuredly should not curse the low, 
misdirected, or undeveloped powers which very naturally 
obey the laws proper to their nature, to the disturbance and 
derangement of the general organism. It is true, thousands 
obey the laws of society by violating the inward principle ; but 
such are not happy ; because they are actuated or kept in 
bondage by fear, which regulates all their external interests 
and actions. But such are esteemed by the clergy as exam- 
ples of free moral powers in the loyal exercise of their liberty 



206 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

to do right or wrong — so superficial are all theological theo- 
ries and conclusions. 

Methinks you inquire : " But is not the delinquent partner 
also deserving blame ?" To this I am impressed to reply : 
"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stoned 
That is to say, there is blamable wrong in this world ; but 
let us denounce deeds, not men. Let us not vilify and ciucify 
the individual ; but the social organization by which the in- 
dividual is used and molded. But this, you say, is evading 
the question. Assuredly not. You say, the Partner had the 
ability to plan the mischief, and, hence, the inward power 
of understanding exactly what he was doing, &c, and 
should have not done the deed. This is precisely what I say; 
only I affirm that he was a misdirected man — acting from 
what you would pronounce the lowest motive of his nature ; 
but, at the same time, the fact should not be overlooked that 
that lowest motive was the strongest in his mind. It was his 
prevailing and psychologizing Interest to do the mischief; to 
which all his plans and deliberations were playing the parts 
of agents and attorneys. The client was the all-absorbing 
Interest. But you ask : " Where did that low and miserable 
motive originate ?" Divines affirm it was generated in his 
own will. This I deny, and ask : where did that man obtain 
his conscious being and its laws ? Did he determine his or- 
ganization ? Certainly not. But why did not the other 
Partner commit the same theft ? Because, perhaps, the other 
mind was endowed with a higher realization of justice, which 
no ordinary attractions could influence or dilute ; or, he might 
fear society. He would, therefore, act out the law of his 
being as faithfully as the other. Still society should not be so 
structurally defective as to allow the least developed mind an 
opportunity or tendency to create disorder. This man had a 
right to demand, from the various dependences, a feeling supe- 
rior to the Interest of wealth and its supposed joys. 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 207 

You now revert to the instance of the murderer. What 
shall we say ? Is the murderer not guilty ? Should we not 
denounce him as a " free moral power" — " doing as he was not 
made to do ?" Yea, verily ! He was doing as he was not 
made to do ; but the primary cause did not originate in his 
Will. Whence came it, then ? I answer. Society is guilty 
of the outrage ; for it permitted the lowest motives of the 
mind to become paramount and the strongest. No man, in 
his proper condition, ever committed murder from a natural 
preference. The thought is revolting ! If he should kill 
from a native taste ; whence came that taste ? Did he create 
himself? Far from it. Is there unrighteousness with God ? 
God forbid ! How, then, came that man to destroy his 
brother? I answer, he acted as a strong power in the 
hands of a still more powerful combination of causes ; for 
which society, not individuals, are truly responsible. 

Take, for example, the case of Dr. Parkman and Prof. 
Webster. Did the latter murder the former from a sponta- 
neous exercise of his so-called moral freedom ? The facts 
are quite to the contrary. The crime grew out of a pecuniary 
obligation and embarrassment between the individuals. The 
debtor did not liquidate the debt when he promised to do so, 
and the impatient creditor became abnormally suspicious. 
This suspicion generated aggravating insinuations and con- 
stant inquiries, under which Prof. Webster writhed and 
smarted as only a proud man could. His wounded pride 
overpowered his other and higher feelings, and developed a 
degree of anger altogether insupportable. His strongest 
Interest was centered in the removal of this bane to his hap- 
piness. This led to the murder. You say : " He should 
have restrained himself." Oh, it is exceedingly easy to say 
what a fellow-being should do under given circumstances, 
and to blame him if he acts contrary to our notions of right 
and wrong, — especially when we are not organized, situated, 



208 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

and influenced in a similar manner ; but, when our turn comes, 
we find ourselves acting perhaps no better than he ; only we, 
being privy to all the causes, can see mitigating and modify- 
ing circumstances accompanying our crimes, which we hon- 
estly believe, or wish to believe, would justify utter forgive- 
ness. Society held Prof. Webster responsible for his moral 
delinquency or murderous deed. Is this exact justice ? I 
hear a protesting voice, — " Prof. Webster should have more 
properly instituted a suit for individual damages against 
society. Because the crime in this case was the legitimate 
effect of a social relation between debtor and creditor ; of 
which antagonistic relation the distinguished individuals were 
the most unfortunate victims." The precise thought here in- 
tended can be much easier misunderstood than apprehended. 
It is quite a manifest departure from the popular definitions 
of Justice ; and, like the traveler in a strange country, the 
reader may unintentionally wander astray. You exclaim : 
" Oh, it is all a plea for vice — relieving the individual of 
moral responsibility, and encouraging transgression — by 
charging all upon the structure of society." Error could 
not be more remote from Truth, than is this conclusion from 
the author's meaning. Every individual is surely doing a 
blamable wrong when he acts inconsistently with the indwell- 
ing Law of Right. But who shall say what that Law is ? 
Who shall sit in judgment against his neighbor ? Accord- 
ing to my impression, this Law is Harmony. Any thing, 
therefore, which develops discord is wrong; as a cause, it 
must receive an unqualified condemnation. Now the reader 
will apprehend the significancy of my affirmation, if he un- 
derstands me as condemning the causes of discord or sin, 
whether traceable to individuals or to our social construction. 
In the case of Prof. Webster, there is no denying the plain 
fact, that the murder did not grow out of any innate taste or 
voluntary desire, but, primarily, out of a money-relation 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 209 

between the parties — to which they were unrighteously sub- 
jected. This pecuniary trouble, then, taken in connection 
with the inherited temperaments and mental tendencies of 
the criminal, was the cause of the premeditation and the sin. 
Therefore, inasmuch as the first cause of this evil is to be 
found in our social arrangements, so am I, in common justice 
to truth, compelled to charge upon society the damages and 
injuries done to the parties involved. 

You ask, " Why does not every man destroy his creditor, 
when similarly embarrassed in a money-relation ?" For 
the same reason that every man is not physically and men- 
tally organized precisely alike. Each man would be a Newton 
or a Shakespear, were it not for this fact, that the inequalities 
of birth, the contrarieties of surrounding circumstances, and 
the different social positions which men occupy — all conspire 
against the possibility of every person being and doing in a 
corresponding manner. One man can bear fifty times more 
embarrassment and vexation than another, and manifest 
no discomposure or retaliation. It depends altogether upon 
individual organization, and the use which society makes of 
that organization, as to the good or evil issues. You in- 
quire : " Who made society ?" Society is the work of igno- 
rant and undeveloped men. Like the first cotton machine, 
society does not properly accomplish or manufacture what 
the constructive minds desire. Individuals are not personally 
responsible for all the evils evolved from present social ar- 
rangements. For it is the human aggregate which forms 
society. The social mechanism can be improved, only, on 
the event of the masses becoming enlightened as to the 
actual causes of sin so-called, and as to the best methods of 
reorganization. The reader, therefore, will apprehend me as 
not tolerating vice, or as exculpating the individual from the 
commission of discordant deeds which he, as a comparative 
free power, can prevent or abstain from ; but as teaching the 

14 



210 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

doctrine, which can not be successfully refuted, that the 
greatest evils in this world arise from Ignorance as to the 
organization of men, and, equally, from a defective social 
arrangement. A different and harmonious organization of 
human occupations and interests would render society a bet- 
ter Parent to its offspring ! But the individuals were not the 
real sufferers ; because, when their physical existence termi- 
nated a better opened upon them ; but they were citizens, 
and husbands, and fathers ! From these relations sprang all 
the suffering which the murder developed. Society, there- 
fore, receives back, with interest compounded, all the wrongs, 
the insults, and oppressions which its antagonistic relations 
inflict upon individuals. Society, when it strangulates the 
murderer, at the same time, absolutely insults the moral feel- 
ings of every man who has outgrown theology and the pre- 
vailing evils of an undeveloped race. 

In conclusion, I will briefly reply to the almost thoughtless 
assertion, that " this philosophy is immoral." This assertion, 
my friends, is grounded in ignorance and prejudice. The logi- 
cal fruits are : personal analysis, self- development, harmony, 
peace, brotherly love, and a universal unity of interests. We 
are taught to feel ourselves free to do Right ; but we are not 
free to do wrong. The law of our existence is Justice or har- 
mony ; this is our highest Interest or chief attraction. Almost 
the last words which broke from the soul of Jesus, when he 
separated from his sorrow-stricken disciples, bring out in full 
force the practical teachings of this philosophy : " Be ye one, 
even as I and my father are one" — a blending of interests 
the most intimate, wise, and divine. This state can never 
be developed under the teaching of supernaturalism ; which 
tolerates social antagonisms on the fallacious theory of man's 
moral freedom. This doctrine which asserts that each man 
is a self-determining and self-regulating power, is disproved 
by every thing in existence. The mission of the Christ-prin- 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 211 

ciple is to reveal to the race the peace and unity of truth 
It will unfold a Wisdom-power among men to the ultimate 
establishment of a sacred harmony on earth, permanent as 
the Eternal Mind. 

I have said that man's will is an effect, and not a cause ; 
that it is, therefore, not absolutely, but comparatively free. 
If a man wills to accomplish any thing, the execution thereof 
depends wholly upon the favorable conspiration of surround- 
ing things. There could be no lying, no stealing, no murder, 
if every man was an isolated being — an independent, self- 
causing, self-determining, and self-sustaining power. Nay. 
Association is the parent of all discordant contrasts in men 
and deeds ; and the Law of Progression is the parent of the 
countless varieties of character visible in the human world. 
I say, then, that man is comparatively free in his will. He 
can follow out, or after, his strongest attraction or Interest on 
the condition, that all relative influences and circumstances, 
over which he can have no direct control, are friendly to his 
proceeding. Kossuth, in the exercise of his freedom, could 
do nothing, though he might will forever, if there were no 
hearts to beat sympathetically with his own. Now I regard 
his love of, and labors for, Liberty as the natural result of the 
events which developed him, and of the peculiar organiza- 
tion which, without his consent, he originally derived from his 
progenitors. Hence, manifestly, the reason why all men are 
not precisely like Kossuth, is to be found in the fact, that all 
are not personally organized and situated in a correspond- 
ing manner. So, therefore, there is no great cause for aris- 
tocracy in feeling ; for the most splendid man before the 
world to-day might have been, through the accident of birth, 
a negro delving in the earth for a livelihood. 

But you ask : " If this doctrine be true, how shall we 
graduate the measure of personal responsibility ?" This ques- 
tion I will more fully answer hereafter. My present reply 



212 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

is : from the mind of fine endowments we should expect fine 
results, all immediately surrounding things being favorable. 
I think many who now pass for good Christian citizens, have 
never committed theft or murder; simply because, they 
have not been situated amid the adequate temptations. But 
what might constitute an irresistible temptation to one man, 
could form no inducement whatever to another, possessing a 
different temperament and a higher organization. This fact 
men are quite too apt to overlook in pronouncing judgment 
upon the moral delinquencies of the victims of vice. The 
man who would not be tempted at all to do a certain thing, 
which some weaker brother was influenced to accomplish in 
society, sits in cold judgment against the misdirected mind, 
and consigns him, on the ground of moral freedom, to some 
loathsome prison or burning hell. Such is the doctrine of 
supernaturalism ! 

Man, I repeat, is free to do right ; but he is not free to do 
wrong. When he does right, he glides peacefully along with 
the divine life-currents of this beautiful universe, like a flower 
on the ocean's bosom. This is the glorious Liberty of the 
children of God. But to attempt to do wrong, or rather to 
be influenced by social laws to go in a wrong direction, is to 
meet with insurmountable impediments at every step ; it is 
like an effort to ascend the imperative tide of Niagara falls. 
" According to this philosophy," you ask, "what motive have 
we to use our comparative freedom ?" I answer : The chief 
attraction of every soul is Happiness. But there are very 
few who know which road to take to find it. Thousands 
think it is to be found in licentiousness, in gaming, in prowl- 
ing through the world, like the prodigal son, in drunkenness 
and recklessness ; but such soon discover their error ; for a 
miserable experience teaches a different lesson. 

Happiness, then, is the chief of all attractions ; and all 
mankind would go directly to it, if they possessed sufficient 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 213 

wisdom. We, therefore, who have this wisdom should impart 
it to those whose present proceedings are against the law of 
Right. This Law operates in us and upon us, whether we 
recognize it or not; and every movement which deviates 
from its imperative tendency, is attended with the legitimate 
consequences. These results are recorded in the book of 
life ; not always in accordance with our educational notions 
of right and wrong, with our voluntary or involuntary 
doings ; but, invariably, in proportion to the real deviation of 
the individual. Society does the most injury to individuals 
in this respect. " You ask : " What do you mean by the 
book of life ?" The book of life, my friends, is composed of 
the human body and mind. The lids are made of the body ; 
the folios of the mental faculties. Upon these leaves are 
written the many deviations of the individual from the paths 
of rectitude. The recording angel is the Law of Right, or 
the Positive Principle of nature, which is Harmony. The 
mark of transgression is upon the brow. The individual — 
the book of life — is immortal ; it soon passes away to the 
Spirit Land. The record of misdirection appears on the 
living faculties ; is manifested in their deformity and decrepi- 
tude ; in their inability immediately to advance, with the 
higher spirits, upon the eternal highway of Love and Wisdom. 
Such are the motives, according to this philosophy, which we 
have for exercising aright all the comparative freedom in our 
possession. One can righteously affect a Family ; another a 
Society ; another still, can affect a Community ; and still an- 
other, can move a Nation with the power of Mind — if all the 
immediate outer conditions conspire to that end. But society 
must be changed. For the greatest injury which can be 
done an individual, is to place him, by the mere accident of 
birth, in a world which favors crime, and the perpetuation 
of mental misery. 



CONCLUSION 



The friends of progress should always be able to read that 
greatest of all living chapters in Creation : the condition of 
the human world. It concerns every body ; because the 
world is composed of individuals. And if those who stand 
upon the summit of the hill are incapable of seeing the broad 
extent of humanity that surrounds them, then who shall go 
to the contemplation ? The whole world, as a general thing, 
sees future events through the eyes of a very few persons. 
Indeed, it is almost true to say that, considered in the histo- 
rical sense, the entire body of mankind has but two eyes or 
mediums through which to contemplate the condition of 
things, namely, Politics and Religion. 

On this occasion, let us look at the world through the me- 
dium of Religion. My impressions upon this subject may 
be briefly written. I, therefore, solicit your clearest discern- 
ment to the following points : It is well known by all the 
inhabitants of Christendom that the world is full of sectarian 
jargon and bitterness. And that very conspicuously before 
the world are arrayed, in bitter and uncompromising hostility, 
two powerful forces — Protestantism and Catholicism. 

In order to bring these religious institutions distinctly 
before your minds, I will describe their leading charac- 
teristics. 

Catholicism is a system of supernaturalism. It claims to 
be the " One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church" — based upon 
supernatural authority, claiming unending infallibility. It 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 215 

denies the right of individual judgment upon religious subjects ; 
but inculcates the virtues, charities, and hospitalities of Chris- 
tianity through the agency of popes, bishops and priests, who 
profess to have their authority direct from the supernatural 
source. 

Protestantism is also a system of supernaturalism — I mean, 
when considered as a whole. It claims to have discovered 
the true import of the Sacred Scriptures. It is based upon a 
supernatural foundation, but encourages the right of private 
judgment upon all subjects pertaining to religion and con- 
science. It likewise inculcates the virtues and charities of 
Christianity through the medium of clergymen, schools, and 
colleges. 

Now I am not impressed to consider the minor points of 
either Catholicism or Protestantism, nor the different views 
which one party or the other entertains concerning the truest 
methods of biblical interpretation. There have already been 
too many churches built, and too many salaries paid, to have 
these oriental and insignificant affairs discussed. But I have 
to do only with the foundation upon which these two very 
popular institutions manifestly stand. It is essential to under- 
stand here, what is very generally overlooked, that both of 
these gigantic religious organizations are struggling to main- 
tain an everlasting position upon the same identical basis. 
There is one foundation ; but it is not large enough to sus- 
tain two such stupendous and inharmonious superstructures. 
Hence it inevitably follows, that both must fall forever — - 
leaving the ground to be occupied by something more con- 
sistent. But one must decline and crumble before the other. 
Now the question is, which of these two religious institutions 
is first destined to decay ? 

Let us leave this question unanswered, for a few moments, 
and turn our thoughts in another direction. 

It is well known by the clergy and people generally of the 



216 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

present day, that there is rapidly growing a spirit of ration- 
alistic or philosophical Christianity. This is the Harmonial 
Philosophy. It stands upon the revelations of Nature, and 
upon the foundations of the highest form of Reason. It does 
not deny the virtues, charities, truths, or liberalities of any 
known religion ; but simply rejects every thing which claims 
to be intrinsically based upon the miraculous or unprofitably 
supernatural. It looks upon the moralisms and precepts of 
Christianity as a natural development of a well balanced 
mind — or, more properly, as a natural unfolding of truth in 
the general progress of mankind. It regards all the real 
miracles, prophecies, and miraculous powers, as explainable 
upon philosophical principles ; and holds to the doctrine of 
human progress and universal improvement in the constitu- 
tion of things. 

Now, it will be perceived, the declarations and positions 
of this Philosophy are clear, and positively antagonistic to 
both Protestantism and Catholicism. It is essential that you 
fix your minds firmly upon this point. The rationalism of 
this day is positively opposed to the two great forms of reli- 
gious belief. Because, as before said, the quarrel, between 
Protestantism and Catholicism, is sustained on the desire 
which one party has to supplant and transcend the other, 
For they stand upon the same foundation. By this, I mean 
to say, that the Bible is the unmistakable originator of both 
these religious institutions. It is the ground-plan of each ; 
and the two start from the same degree of apostolic authority ; 
but there is a vast struggle, not now obvious, but certain to 
occur between these Powers — a war, destined summarily to 
settle the question of the ground-title, and the divine right of 
human government. A supernatural religion based upon and 
supported by miracles equally supernatural, is the basis of 
both superstructures. There is no denying this plain fact. I 
would not be understood to consider Catholicism as good in 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 217 

all respects as Protestantism ; for it is clear, that the latter 
has wrought many improvements in the form of religious 
worship, has abandoned many expensive and unnecessary 
ceremonies, and encouraged individual education, and private 
judgment in scriptural reading. 

But mankind are now far more civilized and advanced in 
arts and sciences than in any former era. Men understand 
each other better now ; and the great laws of nature are more 
easily and generally comprehended. The shackles of bigotry 
and intolerance drop off as the cause of Freedom advances ; 
and all members of humanity — of Christendom especially — 
are becoming more thoroughly reasonable and baptized in 
the pure waters of wisdom. 

Here, then, is the point : men are becoming more reason- 
able. The fate of Christendom depends wholly upon this one 
fact. Men are realizing their manhood and becoming intel- 
ligent and strong. 

Among other revolutions which await the higher portions 
of mankind, is a religious one, which will be more powerful 
than any known to history. But it will be effected prin- 
cipally by Reason. One party will reason philosophically, 
the other theologically; both will reason correctly from the 
premises assumed. You may be assured of the truth of this 
approaching crisis. The world must recognize it, because it 
will be accompanied with war; for politics are inseparably 
connected, all over the world, with religious systems. Reli- 
gion will develop reason ; but politics will impel the masses 
to unsheath the sword and to stain the bosom of nature with 
blood ! Friends of progress ! be not discouraged ; for the 
final crisis must come ; then the strange interregnum. 

Concerning so-called revealed religion, the majority of 
the people will reason thus : " We believe Christianity to be 
a supernatural development of truth. There are truths our 
feeble reason could never have discovered — such as the char- 



218 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

acter of God, the doctrine of immortality, and so forth ; 
hence, a supernatural revelation is essential to our future 
safety and present enlightenment." (Remember, my friends, 
that thousands of Protestants will and do reason in this way.) 
And looking about on either side, they will say : " What means 
• all these sects ? Whence their origin ? Is this the result of 
religious liberty ? Nay ; it is religious anarchy ! Where- 
fore ? Because all Protestantism is in error. We have a 
supernatural religion, but we have been striving to compre- 
hend a supernatural matter, with our common, natural judg- 
ments ! This is unreasonable." Thus many will say : This 
is unreasonable ; and it is all chargeable upon Protestants. 
They have been very inconsistent. They believe that 
Christianity is a supernatural revelation of supernatural 
truth ; and yet they have the presumption to think, that 
every man should read this supernatural revelation to please 
himself. Catholicism is more consistent, and more certain to 
redeem the sinner from the mortgage which the devil holds 
against him ; because this religion is true to all the apostolic 
symbols and pen and ink habiliments of the early church, as 
these were supernaturally originated and organized on earth. 
Protestantism, on the contrary, is unsafe (on the supernatural 
theory) as a divine power unto salvation. Its existence is 
based upon the original developments of supernaturalism ; 
but, on the score of freedom of opinion, this church has 
adopted a somewhat more spiritual method of accomplishing 
the new birth and the sinner's final salvation. This freedom 
of opinion is now the great trouble. It has opened the door 
to all manner of heresy, atheism, demonism, and diverse sec- 
tarian antagonisms to the claims of supernaturalism. Now 
I am impressed with the conviction, that no natural judgment 
is adequate to the just understanding of supernatural things. 
If Christianity is a system of supernatural truth, then it re- 
quires a supernaturally illuminated mind to comprehend its 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 219 

import and arcanical bearings. In this matter, the Roman 
Catholic religion is altogether more consistent than the 
Protestant religion. This is undeniable. 

But it may be said that Christianity is only natural truth, 
supernaturally revealed — presented to man for his accepta- 
tion or rejection in his freedom. Now, by taking this posi- 
tion, you clearly admit that the entire system would event- 
ually have been unfolded by the general progression of 
humanity — you come upon rationalistic grounds of interpre- 
tation. If Christianity is a system of natural truth, then it 
would have naturally come forth like the sciences of As- 
tronomy, Geology, &c, in the common course of things. 
But if it came through a miraculous channel, or was divulged 
through the agency of supernatural means, then it evidently 
requires the same means to enliven it and to spread it tri- 
umphantly over the earth. Do you apprehend the full bear- 
ing of this reasoning ? 

Let us take an example. Suppose you construct an 
engine ; you adjust the parts, introduce the vapor, and the 
wheels turn. But what would you think of the mechanic 
who insisted upon making a steam-engine goby water power. 
You would doubtless consider him ignorant or insane. Now, 
apply the same reasoning to Protestantism. Protestants be- 
lieve that Christianity was introduced, and set in motion, by 
supernatural and miraculous means ; and yet they reject the 
means by which the whole system was originally moved, and 
try to keep it in action by natural and common causes. In 
this matter of theoretic consistence, I affirm, Catholicism 
has always been, and is now, far in advance of Protestantism. 
For if we have a supernaturally revealed religion, we should 
have a class of men supernaturally endowed, or ordained, to 
understand it, and to impart its wonderful truths to mankind. 
While Protestantism is divided and subdivided into many 
conflicting sects, the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church 



220' THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

stands perfectly unmoved and unchanged ! Now, why is 
this ? The reply is plain : simply because that church is, and 
always has been, perfectly consistent with its assumed prem- 
ises. It stands, like Protestantism, upon a supernatural foun- 
dation. Its doctrines are derived from the Bible, which is 
claimed to be a supernaturally derived book ; hence it requires 
a class of regularly inspired men to divulge its great teach- 
ings, and to secure their proper acceptation by, and influence 
upon, the human character. This class of men should take 
charge of our souls ; and we should not interfere with reli- 
gious doctrines or political acts, only so far as the super- 
naturally inspired men shall desire and command. Now, be 
it remembered, the Catholic Church is, or claims to be, in 
possession of this class of inspired men. There is a great 
organization of Popes and Bishops who claim to have super- 
natural authority, from Peter the First, to the present time. 
The supernaturalistic chain is complete. To be consistent 
then, let us leave conflicting Protestantism, and go back to 
the bosom of the Mother Church. 

Here, my friends, you have a brief synopsis of the simple 
process which is likely to occur in thousands of Protestant 
hearts. It is now occurring, privately, all around the world. 
There will be a peculiar reaction in favor of Catholicism. 
The One, Holy, Catholic Church, is destined to spread 
throughout many of the territories of Christendom ; because 
one party in Protestantism will see its inconsistent position 
in matters of religious theory. But another party has ap- 
peared — the Rationalistic Christians or Harmonial Philoso- 
phers. This form of religion unqualifiedly rejects all un- 
natural supernaturalism. Hence, Protestantism and Catho- 
licism, as religious institutions, are alike repudiated. It does 
not make every mans judgment his only guide in matters of 
importance, but asks — " Where shall we find the most truth, 
the highest wisdom, the noblest religion, the truest happiness ? 



THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 221 

It has these desires for its eternal magnet. Hence it interrogates 
the boundless fields of Nature with an honest soul and lofty 
brow ! This is perfect and immutable freedom. Anarchy 
can never invade the principles of this party ; for it is based 
upon Nature and upon Nature's God. 

We have now obtained the final reply. Protestantism, as 
now constructed, will first decay ; because it is to be divided 
into two parties — the smallest party will go back into Cath- 
olicism ; the other will go forward into Rationalism. And 
then, after a succession of eventful years, a political revolu- 
tion will hurl the Catholic superstructure to the Earth, and 
the prismatic bow of promise will span the Heavens. The 
Children of Earth will then be comparatively free and happy ! 
For the Millennial Epoch will have arrived ; and there will be 
something like a realization of peace on Earth and good will 
toward all Men ! 



LIST OF THE WORKS 



OF 



ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, 

IN 

THE ORDER OF THEIR PUBLICATION. 



1. THE PRINCIPLES OF NATURE, her Divine Revela- 

tions, and a Voice to Mankind. — In Three Parts : Part I. 
" Any theory, hypothesis, philosophy, sect, creed, or institution, 
that fears investigation, openly manifests its own error." Part II. 
" Reason is a flower of the spirit, and its fragrance is liberty and 
knowledge." Part III. " When distributive justice pervades the 
social world, virtue and morality will bloom with an immortal beauty ; 
while the Sun of Righteousness will arise in the horizon of univer- 
sal industry, and shed its genial rays over all the fields of peace, 
plenty, and human happiness." Tenth Edition. In one vol., 8vo. 
Price $2.00. (Lyon & Fishbotjgh, Publishers.) 

2. A Chart Exhibiting an Outline of the Progressive History 

and Approaching Destiny of the Race. — Mounted on rollers, 
price $1.50. (Published by the Author.) 

3. The Philosophy of Special Providences : A Vision. Pub- 

lished by request. Fifth edition. Price 15 cents. (Bela Marsh, 
Publisher, Boston.) 

4. THE GREAT HARMONIA ; being a Philosophical Revela- 

tion of the Natural, Spiritual, and Celestial Universe. Vox,. I. The 
Physician. Fourth edition. 12mo., price $1.25. (Published by 
B. B. Mussey & Co., Boston.) 

5. THE GREAT HARMONIA. Volume II. The Teacher. 

Price $1.00. (B. B. Mussey & Co., Publishers.) 

6. The Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse ; being an Explan- 

ation of Modern Mysteries. Paper covers, 8vo., price 50 cents. 
(Published by Fowlers & Wells.) 

7. The Approaching Crisis ; being a Review of Dr. Bushnell's 

recent Lectures on Supernaturalism. Paper, 8vo., price 50 cents. 
(Published by the Author.) 

8. THE GREAT HARMONIA Vol. III. The Seer. (Will 

probably be ready early in May.) 






J. S. REDFIELD'S 

fflW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS. 

FOR SALE BY BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 



1. Characters in the Gospels, illustrating Phases of 

Character at the Present Day. By Rev. E. H. Chapin. 
12mo., cloth 50 

2. Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers. By Wm. Edmond- 

etoune Aytoun, Editor of Blackwood's Magazine. One 
vol., 12mo 1 00 

3. The Book Of Ballads. Edited by Bon Gaultier. One 
vol., 12mo 75 

4. ClOVerilOOk ; or, Recollections of our Neighborhood 
in the West. By Alice Carey. 1 vol., 12mo.. illustra- 
ted by Darley. Cloth 1 00 

5. Isa : a Pilgrimage. By Caroline Chesebro'. 1 vol., 
12mo., cloth 1 00 

6. Dream-Land by Daylight ; a Panorama of Ro- 
mance. By Caroline Chesebro'. With an Introduc- 
tion by Mrs. Ellet. 1 vol., 12mo., illustrated by par- 
ley. Cloth .-..1 25 

7. Sorcery and Magic. Narratives of Sorcery and 
Magic from the most Authentic Sources. By Thomas 
Wright, M. A., F. S. A., &c, &c. I vol., 12mo., cloth. 1 25 

8. Tales and Traditions of Hungary. By Theresa 

Pulszky. 1 vol., 12mo., cloth, with portrait and addi- 
tional tales 125 

9. Men and Women of the 18th Century. By Ar- 

sene Houssaye. 2 vols., 12mo., with beautifully en- 
graved portraits of Louis XV. and Madame de Pom- 
padour 2 50 

10. Episodes Of Insect Life. By Acheta Domestica. 
In three series. Beautifully and copiously illustrated. 
8vo., cloth gilt. 

First Series — Insects of Spring. 

Second Series — Insects of Summer. 

Third Series — Insects of Autumn. 

Volumes sold separately. Price per volume 2 00 

The same, with the plates colored after nature. Cloth, 
extra gilt edges. Price per volume ...4 00 

11. Ladies Of the Covenant. Memoirs of Distinguished 
Scottish Female Characters, embracing the Period of 
the Covenant and the Persecution. By the Rev. 
James Anderson. 1 vol., 12mo., cloth 1 25 

12. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, complete in 3 

vols., with a Portrait ; a Memoir by James Russell 
Lowell, and an Introductory Essay by N. P. Willis. 
Edited by Rufus W. Griswold, D. D., 12mo., cloth.. -.4 00 

13. The Night Side Of Nature ; or, Ghosts and Ghost 
Seers. By Catherine Crowe. 1 vol., 12mo., cloth.. .1 25 

14. Chanticleer ; a Thanksgiving Story of the Peabody 
Family. 1 vol., cloth 75 

15. The Manhattaner in New Orleans ; or, Phases 

of Crescent City Life. By A. Oakey Hall, Esq. 3 vol., 
12mo., cloth 63 

16. History of the War in the Peninsula and South 

of France, from the year 1807 to 1814. By W. F. Na- 
pier. 1 vol., 8vo., cloth. 3 00 

17. On Ventilation. On the Uses and Abuses of Air, 
&c, &c. By John H. Griscom, M. D. With colored 
and other illustrations. 1 vol., 12mo., cloth 1 00 



18. Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dy- 

namics of Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crya- 
talization and Chemism, in their Relations to Vital 
Force. By Baron Von Reichenbach. 1 vol., 12mo., 
cloth 1 25 

19. The Celestial Telegraph. By L. Alph. Cahagnet. 

Second American edition, in 1 vol., 12mo 1 25 

20. Theory Of Pneumatology. By Dr. Johann Hein- 
rich Jung Stilling. Edited by Rev. George Bush 1 00 

21. Davis's Revelations. The Principles of Nature, 
her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind, by 
and through Andrew Jackson Davis. Tenth edition. 

In lvol., 8vo., cloth 2 00 

22. Chapman's American Drawing-Book. By J. 

G. Chapman, M. A. In parts : three parts published, 
price, each 50 

23. Chapman's Drawing Copy-Books, per dozen.. ..1 50 

24. The Pictorial Bible. The Old and New Testa- 
ments, illustrated with numerous engravings. Quarto, 
embossed 6 00 

25. Pictorial New Testament. Cloth 1 25 

26. Anderson's Question Book on Geography, on 

the plan of Hart's 20 

27. Outlines of a New System of Physiognomy. By 

James W. Redfield, MD ',. 25 

28. Jacques. By George Sand 1 13 

29. A new Series of Toy Books, beautifully illustrated. 

No. 1 — Twelve kinds, one dozen each, per gross. 1 00 

" 2— Do. do. do 1 75 

" 3— Do. do. do 2 50 

« 4— Do. do. do 4 50 



NEW BOOKS, NEARLY READY. 

1. Alice Carey. A volume of New Poems by Alice 
Carey. In 1 vol., 12mo.. with portrait 1 00 

2. The Cavaliers of England ; or, the Times of the 

Revolutions of 1642 and 1688. By Henry W. Herbert, 
lvol. 12mo 1 25 

3. Bronchitis, and Kindred Diseases. In language 

adapted to common readers. By W. W. Hall, M. D. 

In lvol., 12mo 1 00 

4. Lectures and Miscellanies. By Henry Jamea. l 

vol., 12mo 1 25 

5. Outlines of Comparative Physiognomy. By 

James W. Redfield, M. D. Illustrated by portraits of 
men and animals. Paper 50 

6. The Men of the Time in 1852. Comprising short 

Biographical Sketches, carefully prepared, of the cele- 
brated men of the world at the present day. 1 voL, 
12mo 

7. FitZ Greene Halleck. The Poems of Fitz Greene 
Halleck. Containing new Poems never before pub- 
lished. In 1 vol., 12mo 

8. Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed 








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